Danish Espersen reopens Vietnam facility ‘slowly but surely’ as country battles Covid

The Danish seafood processing giant Espersen is currently “slowly but surely” reopening the company’s facility in Vietnam after 10 weeks forced shutdown due to Vietnam’s strict covid-19 measures, Intrafish writes.

Espersen is a world leader in the processing of frozen fish blocks, frozen fillets, specials cuts, and breaded and deluxe puff pastry fish products, with modern production plants in Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Vietnam and representation offices in the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Malaysia, and China.

As Vietnam was battling a rising wave of covid-19 infections, authorities closed down whole regions completely, including all factories.

Speaking of the reopening, the CEO of Espersen Klaus Nielsen told IntraFish that the company just resumed production a few weeks ago. “I think that everybody has been caught to some extent by the COVID situation,” he said. 

According to Klaus Nielsen, the priority was on keeping staff safe and all were sent home at first but was also important for the company to secure value on the products.

“We shipped out all the finished goods, and we ultimately allowed 20 people to live on the plant 24/7 for two weeks,” he said.

Klaus Nielsen noted that Espersen’s facility in Vietnam is still not at full speed but gradually, through very close dialogue with the Vietnamese authorities, the company at 30 percent, moving up to 50 percent and expects to be back at 80 percent capacity in November.

“So slowly but surely we are opening up, but we have a lot of procedures and processes we have to respect and have agreed with the authorities,” he said.

About Gregers Møller

Editor-in-Chief • ScandAsia Publishing Co., Ltd. • Bangkok, Thailand

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