September 21, 2009

Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade said the country is projected to earn US$4.4 billion dollars from seafood exports this year, down 2.2 percent year-on- year, the local newspaper Vietnam Economic Times reported Friday (September 18).

In the first eight months this year, Vietnam raked in US$2.65 billion from seafood exports, down 7.9 percent year- on-year, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam.

Vietnam is expected to earn another US$1. 75 billion in the last four months if the country speeds up expansion of import markets, said Nguyen Thanh Bien, deputy minister of Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Apart from traditional markets like the US, the European countries, Vietnam is accelerating seafood exports in other potential markets including Japan, Russia, the Republic of Korea, and the Middle East countries, according to the ministry.

At least 86 percent of Vietnam's seafood exports to Japan will enjoy preferential tariff as a result of the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, effective as of October 1. It is one of the favourable conditions that Vietnamese seafood exporters should take, said Bien.

Consumers from the Republic of Korea, and the Middle East countries are showing high interest in Vietnamese seafood products, said Bien.

Vietnam's seafood sector targets 2 million tonnes of seafood output this year, an increase of 5 percent year-on-year, said the newspaper.