December 10, 2007

 

Mekong Delta '07 catfish exports may reach US$1 billion

 

 

Tra and basa catfish exports in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta is likely to achieve this year's export target of US$1 billion due to increased demand and high export prices, according to seafood producers.

 

The Cuu Long Delta exported a total of 312,000 tonnes of basa and tra catfish valued at US$810 million in the first 10 months of the year, an increase of 32.1 per cent in volume and 34.4 per cent in value compared to the same period last year.

 

Nguyen Van Thanh, director of the An Giang Province Department of Fisheries, said the province has exceeded this year's assigned target of exporting US$270 million of catfish set by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

 

An Giang Province, the biggest tra and basa supplier in the Cuu Long Delta, earned US$311.9 million in revenue from exporting 115,900 tonnes of catfish as of November 20.

 

Thanh said the figure has surpassed the provinces set target of exporting US$300 million worth of catfish this year.

 

The average export price of catfish has risen to US$2,691 a tonne, up by US$52 a tonne from last year, he said.

 

The next largest catfish exporters, Can Tho City and Dong Thap Province, also met targets set by MARD.

 

Duong Nghia Quoc, deputy director of the Dong Thap Province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the province is expected to earn US$150 million from catfish exports this year, surpassing the export target of US$120 million.

 

The Cuu Long Delta provinces are entering peak harvest season for tra and basa catfish so there are plenty of material input for seafood producers to increase their production and exports, said seafood experts.

 

The EU is the largest export market for Vietnam's tra and basa catfish, accounting for 46.2 percent of export volume. Russia is the second largest market, accounting for 9.8 percent of export volume.

 

Exports to other markets, such as Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Costa Rica and Algeria, have also had high growth rates this year.

 

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) statistics, the EU is not only the leading importer of Vietnamese tra and basa catfish, but all its seafood worth US$749.87 million in the first 10 months of this year, followed by Japan and the US with US$605.46 million and US$594.2 million, respectively.

 

Experts have said that seafood producers are driving export growth higher by meeting the food safety and hygiene standards of overseas markets such as the EU, US, Russia and Australia.