October 30, 2006

 

Vietnam's seafood exports may reach US$4.5 billion by 2010

 

 

A target annual growth of nine percent on Vietnam's seafood industry can generate US$4.5 billion on Vietnamese seafood exports by 2010, according to the Ministry of Fisheries.

 

The projected growth rate is one of the government's programme to improve the country's fishery sector and develop it as one of the economic movers by 2020.

 

The programme hopes to achieve seafood exports of more than 900,000 tonnes by 2010.

 

The fishery sector needs to boost exports to big markets, especially to China, and at the same time, expand outlets globally to avoid regional fluctuations.

 

The sector aims to earn 25 percent of export value from Japan, between 23 percent and 25 percent from the US, 20-22 percent from the EU, 7-9 percent from China and Hong Kong and 8 percent from South Korea.

 

Vietnam has earned US$2.5 billion in export of seafood in the first 10 months of this year, posting a 12 per cent increase in exports, according to the Ministry of Fisheries.

 

In October alone, the fisheries sector incurred an export value of US$195 million, said deputy minister of fisheries Nguyen Hong Minh.

 

The sector exported 614,443 tonnes of various seafood, including 121,000 tonnes of frozen shrimp, 54,000 tonnes of cuttlefish and octopus, and 336,000 tonnes of other fish.

 

Minh said shrimp and tra catfish are most profitable with good harvests and high prices.

 

The price of tra and basa catfish reached a record high this year of VND14,000 per kilo (US$0.87) in the Mekong Delta provinces.

 

Fishery officials expect shrimp export prices to increase in the remaining months due to huge demand from the US and EU with the approaching of Christmas season.

 

Local prices are also expected to shoot up with the coming of Vietnamese holidays such as the wedding season and the pre- and post-Lunar New Year.

 

A 20 or 30 unit kilogram of shrimp currently fetches between VND150,000 (US$9.33) and VND200,000 (US$12.44).

 

The government is pinning its hopes high on its seafood exports as it encourages the sector to improve their efficiency and actively participate in trade fairs overseas to broaden its markets.

 

The ministry reported that Vietnam exported a total of 3 million tonnes in volume of fisheries from January to October this year,  marking an increase of 10 per cent over the same period of last year.

 

Meanwhile, after detecting contaminants in Vietnamese cuttlefish, Japan is now strictly monitoring shrimps coming from the country.

Instead of the fifty percent usual inspection on Vietnamese shrimp exports, Japanese authorities would perform antibiotic tests on all incoming shipments. 

Japan has already penalised ten Vietnamese exporters  found to be violating food security norms.

 

Ho Quoc Luc, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors, warned local exporters of a possible Japanese ban on shrimp imports from Vietnam if the situation continues.

 

Japan is already considering a ban on cuttlefish imports from Vietnam also due to antibiotic residues as authorities continue to find Chlorampenicol in the last four months despite earlier warnings.