July 11, 2008

Vietnam's catfish exports rake in US$610 million in H1

Vietnam's seafood companies fetched a total of US$610 million for exporting 260,000 tonnes of tra and basa catfish in the first half of 2008, according to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

The exports accounted for more than 32 percent of the country's total seafood export value, followed by frozen shrimp and squid exports at 31 percent and 7.4 percent respectively.

Vietnam exported 209,054 tonnes of catfish from January to May, totaling US$486.869 million, up 48 percent in volume and 31.3 percent on-year.

The VASEP said the high export revenues were attributed to increasing demands from such major markets as EU, Middle America and Middle East.

Early this year, Vietnam sets a target of US$1.2 billion for catfish export revenues.

Last year, the country exported 386,870 tonnes of processed tra and basa from nearly one million tonnes of materials, earning nearly US$1 billion, up 34.4 percent on-year.

The country's major consumers include the EU, Russia, Asia and the US.