October 21, 2009
Vietnam white leg shrimp farming acreage up 8 percent at 16,600 hectares
Vietnam's total white-leg shrimp farming area reached 16,600 hectares as of late Aug 2009, posting an increase of 8 percent from a year earlier.
White leg shrimp is mainly reared in coastal provinces from Quang Ninh to Binh Thuan, accounting for 81 percent of the country's total white-leg farming area.
However, earnings from the white-leg shrimp exports are modest. As of August, Vietnam exported only 670 tonnes of white-leg shrimp valued at US$3.362 million.
Vietnam has 490 white-leg shrimp hatcheries, producing seven billion shrimp juveniles in the first eight months of 2009, meeting 60 percent of domestic demand.
