August 3, 2007

Vietnam's seafood export up by 14.6 percent in first 7 months

Seafood exports have generated US$2 billion in Vietnam's coffers in the first seven months of this year, up by 14.6 percent from the same period last year.

In July, the country already earned US$330 million from overseas shipments with including frozen shrimp, catfish and octopus as the main products, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers on Thursday (August 2).

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

The country is also focusing on increasing quality of the products, intensifying their trade promotion, and enhancing its capacity of forecasting seafood prices and export demand, said the association.

Vietnam, which earned nearly US$3.4 billion from seafood in 2006 -- up 23.1 percent against 2005-- has targeted an annual seafood export growth of over 9 percent in the 2006-2010 period.