November 5, 2007

Vietnam government encourages imports for more seafood export revenues

The government of Vietnam is encouraging unprocessed seafood imports in order to increase export revenues.

The decision, ratified on November 1, has mandated the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to work with agencies on reduced tariffs rates for raw seafood products.

The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exports-Imports (VASEP) had warned that with seafood processors mushrooming, the national fishing capacity was falling short of demand.

VASEP president Tran Thien Hai said national seafood processing capacity increased by 20 percent last year while catches in 2006 were up by 7.6 percent.

The supply shortage has caused a majority of seafood processing factories to operate at just 30 or 50 percent of their capacity, he said.

The country to date has already 470 seafood processing enterprises with earnings of US$3 billion in export revenues in the first 10 months of 2007 or a 10.8 percent year on year increase. The national fish production output is expected to reach 3.8 million tones this year while the exports revenue is forecast to reach US$3.6 billion.

Authorities are also asked to strictly abide by rules on antibiotic residue control and food hygiene against inputs.