January 12, 2007

 

Vietnam seafood sector hopes to sustain its good performance this year

 

 

Despite difficulties, the seafood industry has achieved high growth in 2006, exporting products worth US$3.3 billion or 3.8 million tonnes which exceeded previous target earnings of US$500 million.  

 

Deputy Minister of Fisheries Nguyen Thi Hong Minh said the industry's progress was attributed to market and seafood product structures. 

 

By November 2006, seafood export already fetched US$3.056 billion, ahead of time set by the Vietnam Association for Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) of US$3 billion for the whole year.

 

The achievement is credited to the dynamism and creativeness of fishermen and seafood export and processing enterprises, said Minh.

 

Shrimp is a key export item, accounting for more than 44 percent of total seafood export, alongside frozen fish, which makes up more than 33 percent.

 

Minh also commended the contribution of tra and basa catfish that are sold in 65 countries and earned US$700 million with highest consumption in the European Union.

 

The EU has allowed 38 Vietnamese enterprises to export seafood, bringing the total number of Vietnamese exporters to 209. South Korea has now 298 Vietnamese seafood traders, including 13 exporters that were added last year.

 

According to a report by the non-governmental organisation Inforfish in Asia, Vietnamese seafood export increased 938-fold in the past 10 years. The fast growth is attributed to the Vietnamese seafood sector's early meeting of market and processing industry standards. The capacity of food hygiene and safety management organisations, and processing enterprises, has also improved.

 

However, strict regulations implemented by Japan and the European Union on food sanitation are among the issues that Vietnam needs to resolve. The industry has been struggling to settle its antibiotics problem which almost led to a complete ban on its exports by the Japanese, the austere inspection by Russia on Vietnamese seafood facilities and EU's modification on its import policies.

 

Japan is Vietnam's biggest seafood market with an estimated export turnover of US$800 million, followed by EU with 21 percent, US by 19 percent and South Korea with 6 percent.

 

Deputy Minister of Fisheries Nguyen Thi Hong Minh admits the country will have difficulty in its exports but assures the drastic measures the agency has mandated to its processors will guarantee on the quality products exported.