May 19, 2008

Vietnam eyes Egypt for seafood exports

Seafood exporters in Vietnam are looking at Egypt as the new promising market as Egyptian demand is forecast to increase by 10 percent yearly in the next five years, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said.

VASEP said the increase was due to Egypt's rising population, particularly of foreigners becoming permanent residents in the country.

Egypt currently consumes roughly 1 million tonnes of seafood yearly, of which 250,000 tonnes are from imports. Main seafood suppliers to Egypt include Holland, British, Germany, the US and Norway.

Despite usually small turnover, Vietnamese seafood exports to Egypt are recently on the rise. Last year, Vietnam earned more than US$20 million of seafood exports to Egypt, posting a 4.7 fold increase over 2006.

Vietnam trade counsellor in Egypt Dang Ngoc Quang said Egypt holds a great potential but exporters should always be active in trade promotions to popularise Vietnamese seafood in the Egyptian market.

According to VASEP, Vietnamese seafood is coursed through foreign companies, thus remaining unpopular among buyers.

VASEP also strongly suggests that seafood exporters scrutinise Egyptian import quality regulations to minimise any product rejections given the strictness of the market's seafood monitoring.