January 31, 2007

Vietnam eyes bigger seafood export this year

Vietnam has targeted seafood export earnings of at least US$3.5 million this year, up by 4.2 percent from last year, according to the country's Fisheries Ministry.

Vietnam is estimated to earn US$250 million dollars from shipping abroad seafood, including shrimps, prawns, catfish and octopus in January, a year-on-year rise of 39.7 percent. It has set targets of annual seafood export growth of over 9 percent in the 2006-2010 period, and export revenues of 4-4.5 billion dollars in 2010.

The country is boosting export of different seafood items to traditional markets such as China, the United States, the European Union, Japan, Canada and South Korea, and some new ones like the Middle East, East Europe, Africa and South America.

Vietnam is also focusing on improving quality of the products, intensifying trade promotion, building more seafood brand names, and enhancing its capacity of forecasting seafood prices and export demand, according to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).