January 10, 2006

Vietnamese seafood to bring in US$2.8 billion 2006

Vietnam is aiming to hit US$2.8 billion in seafood exports this year, up 5.7 percent from 2005, according to the country's Ministry of Fisheries.

The ministry will meet the target by focussing on seafood product quality and upping aquaculture-breeding areas nationwide to 1.1 million hectares, a rise of about 100,000 hectares from 2005. There are also plans to produce about 3.4 million tonnes of seafood products through sea catch and aquaculture.

As it is, Vietnamese seafood exporters and producers would face stricter quality, safety and hygiene regulations from Vietnam's major markets such as Japan, the US and the EU, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers head Ho Quoc Luc.

For example, the US Food and Drug Administration requires from Jan 1 all manufacturers to clearly state on food labels if food products contain any ingredients that contain protein derived from the eight major allergenic foods, including milk, eggs, fish, and soybeans.

Japan, on the other hand, will strictly inspect toxic chemical or antibiotic residue in aquatic product imports this year, said Ngo Van Nga, director of the Quoc Viet Export-Import and Seafood Processing Company, one of Vietnam's leading seafood exporters to Japan.

Work to up seafood production has started in the An Giang province, where the An Giang Fisheries Import Export Company (Agifish) have, together with farmers and suppliers in local fisheries industry, established the Agifish Bio-Pangasius Union last September, to breed catfish that meet international food safety standards.

The province now plans to produce an average of 150,000 tonnes of seafood products annually and would eventually breed organic fish without using chemicals, revealed Huynh The Nang, head of An Giang Province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

On the hand, the Bac Lieu province will use 70 percent of its 11,000-hecatre aquaculture breeding area to raise organic shrimp, the province's Fisheries Department said.

In 2005, Vietnam exported 570,000 tonnes of seafood products worth US$2.65 billion to 105 countries and territories, exceeding even its original US$2.5-billion target.