February 13, 2012

A raise in shrimp output to 550,000 tonnes is the proposal of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) for the country in 2012, state media reported Friday (Feb 10).

The amount consists of 300,000 tonnes of prawn shrimp and the remaining 250,000 tonnes of white-leg ones, the Viet Nam newspaper said.

In 2012, the association projects the country to earn US$2.5 billion from shrimp shipment, helping to increase the total export revenues from seafood to US$6.5 billion this year compared to US$6.1 billion last year.

Vietnam produced 495,657 tonnes of shrimp in 2011, including 319,206 tonnes of prawn shrimp. It had export revenues of US$2.396 billion from shrimp during the year.

Shrimp demand in the global market is forecast to be high this year. However, the US and Japan, the two major markets for Vietnamese shrimp  in the past, want to import more value-added shrimp products and less shrimp material.