Vietnam notched up nearly US$2 billion from seafood exports in the past seven months of 2007, an on year rise of 15.71 per cent and representing 55.22 per cent of the country’s full-year target, according to the General Statistic Office.
In July alone, the country exported US$340 million worth of seafood products.
The country shipped its seafood products to 51 markets, including markets with high technical barriers like the EU, the US and Canada. But four major markets comprising Russia, Japan, Australia and Taiwan have applied new technical barriers.
Of the total export value, the EU contributed to 24.4 per cent, followed by the US with 18.3 per cent, Japan with 17 per cent, South Korea 7.4 per cent, Russia 5.2 per cent, China 5.1 per cent, ASEAN countries 5.8 per cent and other countries 16.7 per cent, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (Vasep).
The association forecast that Vietnamese seafood businesses can boost exports to the EU and the US in the remaining months of the year as some EU companies shift their order to Vietnam and Thai shrimp export decrease due to increases in material cost and diseases.
In Vietnam, prices of tra and basa catfish have remained stable at US$11,000-11,500 a kilo. Fewer consignments of shrimp were found with antibiotic and chemical residues because quality control was strictly implemented and Japan checked all batches of seafood imported from Vietnam.
Local factories have invested in upgrading and renovating equipment and technology to improve quality and diversify products.
Additional 18 seafood companies meet quality standards to export products to EU, brining the total number of its kind to 470 to date.
In Jan-Jul, Vietnam’s total seafood output was 1.247 million tons, up 2.21 per cent compared to last year and fulfilling 62.4 per cent of full-year plan.
Vietnam, which earned nearly US$3.4 billion from exporting different kinds of seafood in 2006, up 23.1 per cent against 2005, has targeted an annual seafood export growth of over 9 per cent in the 2006-2010 period. (GSO July Edition, Vietnam & World Economy)
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