February 21, 2007

High demand for Vietnam catfish to continue in US, Europe

The changes in the eating habits in Europe and US signify an increase in demad for Vietnam tra and basa catfish together with tuna and tilapia, according to US-based Fisheries Information System (FIS).

The Vietnam News Agency reports the FIS statement have encouraged catfish industry players in Vietnam following its erratic flow of prices and the lawsuit filed by US catfish farmers against Vietnamese varieties.

Difficulties notwithstanding, Vietnam's production of tra and basa catfish has recorded high growth rates in ten years, increasing from 22,000 tonnes in 1997 to 800,000 tonnes in 2006.

Vietnam's catfish are sold in 65 countries with major markets include the European Union, accounting for 46.9 percent of Vietnam's total seafood exports; Russia, 11 percent; and the US, 9.8 percent.

With such high growth rates of catfish exports, the country pins high hopes on an export volume of 1 million tonnes catfish worth US$1 billion dollars in 2007, said Ngo Phuoc Hau, Chairman of the Mekong Fresh Fish Committee under the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP).

Living in the Mekong River basin in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, tra and basa catfish were brought for cultivation in ponds, lagoons and rivers in southern An Giang and Dong Thap provinces since the middle of the 20th century. Scientists started producing tra fish fries artificially in 1978 and basa fries in 1990.

Today, tra and basa catfish are bred in half of the Mekong Delta provinces and several central and northern provinces. The catfish cultivation and processing industry have brought dozens of thousands of jobs to local farmers.

To intensify the export of tra and basa catfish, VASEP and the Vietnam Aqua Service company with the support from EUROGAP, a Swiss organisation on aquatic product certification, have been working out quality standards for these Vietnamese catfish which are expected to be completed in 2007.