November 26, 2007

Vietnam's catfish exports slip on Russian market snag

Russia's constant change of export policies has impacted Vietnam's exports of tra and basa catfish, according to an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The country's seafood exports to Russia in the first 10 months of the year amounted to only US$93 million, down by over 8.1 percent on-year, MARD's statistics showed.

Tran Thi Mieng, deputy director of the MARD's Planning Department, said Russia's export regulations are getting "complicated", which affects their trade as rejected seafood cannot be sold to other markets due to other countries' different requirements.

Russian importers are now requiring many licences to be eligible to import seafood products and this has pulled down Vietnam's seafood exports.

On February 25, Russia has banned seafood imports from several countries, including Vietnam. After rigid inspections on Vietnamese seafood plants, Russia has granted exporting license to 27 Vietnamese seafood companies.

Vietnam has requested Russia to authorise more 18 seafood processing companies to export to the country. The country is also considering Poland as a potential market in a bid to reduce export dependence on Russia.

Despite blurry Russian prospects, Vietnamese seafood exports are optimistic about the Australian market as both export volume and value to the market have sharply increased by 30 percent, earning US$30 million.

Vietnam is expected to fetch US$3.7 billion this year from seafood exports, up 10.5 percent over last year.