November 1, 2006

Storm causes multi-million dollar drop in Vietnam's seafood exports

Typhoon Xangsane, which rampaged through Vietnam and Philippines last month, caused a nearly US$100 million drop in Vietnam's fish exports.

Vietnam's fish exports for October is US$195 million, down from nearly US$295 million last October.

However, the poor results of October would not cause a significant drop in exports for the year as fish exports for the past ten months have risen 12 percent, according to the Ministry of Fisheries.

More than 5,000 hectares of shrimp ponds were damaged and 536 tonnes of shrimp were lost in the typhoon.

The typhoon also affected 2,428 hectares of freshwater breeding fish ponds, affecting 940 tonnes of fish, and 370 shrimp and fish breeding farms.

More than 700 floating farms were swept away.