June 18, 2007

Vietnam urged to strive further despite its huge catfish exports

Although Vietnam has seen a 37.5 fold increase in catfish export revenues in the past decade, Vietnamese exporters must not be complacent and instead work endeavour further to meet international standards to better improve the industry.

The statement was made by Deputy Minister of Fisheries Luong Le Phuong during the Vietfish held in Ho Chi Minh City on June 13 by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) and INFOFISH.

The conference drew over 300 processors, importers and exporters both at home and from various countries including the US and China.

Phuong said the government has reminded exporters to invest in upgrading technology and renewal of management.

The official said tight control on product quality, food hygiene and safety and environment protection are the key measures that seafood processors should take into account to meet increasingly stringent demands from international markets.

The Ministry of Fisheries also encouraged processing factories and enterprises with high competence to join in a strong alliance to produce high quality products and prestigious trademarks, Phuong said.

He raised concerns over the recent uncalled expansion of catfish farms which has been posing environmental threats. He called on local administrations to work out concrete development plans on the way towards quality rather than quantity.

The water surface for catfish farming in Vietnam grew seven times over the last decade to 9,000 hectares in 2006 while the country's catfish production output increased by over 36 times to 825,000 tonnes.

The output and gross revenues in catfish exports surged by 40 times and 37.5 times, respectively, to 286,000 tonnes and US$737 million in 2006.

Vietnamese catfish products are now available in over 80 foreign markets the world over, said Phuong.