November 6, 2012

Vietnam reaches 73.49% of its seafood exports' full-year target

As of October 15, 2012, Vietnam earned over US$4.78 billion from seafood exports, meeting 73.49% of the country's full-year target.

The US remained the biggest importer of Vietnamese seafood, spending over US$955.4 million on seafood imports from the Southeast Asian country as of October 15, up 7.6% from the same period last year, said the General Department of Customs.

The EU ranked second with an import value of US$894.37 million, falling 14% on year. In the bloc, Germany and Italy were the top importers of Vietnamese seafood with respective values of US$153.35 million and US$120.35 million.

Japan and South Korea followed with revenues of US$845.79 million and US$386.69 million, up 17.6% and 8.6% on-year, respectively.

China spent US$314.68 million on importing seafood products from Vietnam during the period while the ASEAN countries bought a total of US$268.48 million worth of seafood.

Between January-October 15, Vietnam earned US$1.723 billion from exporting shrimp, US$1.364 billion from shipping abroad pangasius fish, and US$455.9 million from tuna exports.

Seafood is one of Vietnam's major export commodities. The country's seafood revenues are expected to rise by 2.8% on-year to US$6.5 billion in 2012.