December 16, 2011

Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that the country is projected to have seafood export revenues of over US$6 billion this year, rising from US$5.2 billion in 2010.

In November, the Southeast Asian country earned US$650 million from seafood exports, making the total revenues from exporting of this kind of good in the first 11 months of this year to US$5.6 billion, up 24.9% from the same period last year, the ministry said.

Last month, the value of Vietnam's seafood exports to the US rose 23.5% on year, to South Korea soared 32% and to China and Italy jumped 49% and 41%, respectively.

Prices of Vietnam-sourced seafood also increased. Shrimp price hiked by 15.6% to US$9.53/kilogramme.

Pangasius fish remains as the main Vietnamese product exporting to foreign markets. The ministry asked the localities to keep the growing areas and apply VietGAP production procedure in growing the fish in order to have products meeting high requirements from importing countries.

The fisheries industry targets an export turnover of US$10 billion by 2020, transforming the country into one of largest seafood traders in the world, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers.

The optimistic target is largely based on the industry's 15-20% a year growth rate achieved over the past decade, export value having increased from US$2 billion in 2002 to US$6 billion in 2011.

To reach its target, the industry must overcome challenges such as a lack of raw material for processing while promoting product quality, food hygiene and safety, competitive ability and the development of the export market, the association said.