The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said local seafood industry will find it hard to achieve its yearly target at US$4.25 billion export revenues in 2008, the Saigon Times Daily reported.
Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of Vasep, said that seafood exporters and producers nationwide have been faced by many difficulties caused by the shortage of capital and raw materials.
Vietnam raked in more than US$1.48 billion in seafood export revenue in the first five months of 2008the year, with earnings from shrimp decreasing considerably, he said.
In recent months, many shrimp farms across the country have been decreasing because of diseases, especially in the central provinces and the Mekong Delta, leading to an undersupply of shrimp.
Hoe said Mekong Delta Soc Trang province has 60,000 hectares under shrimp cultivation yearly. In the first five months, the province dedicated only 32,000 hectares to shrimp farming but some 10,000 shrimps were infected with diseases.
Meanwhile, many areas under the central provinces have been infected with diseases. That has made the shrimp export target of some US$1.5 billion unattainable this year.
Last year, Vietnam exported some 950,000 tons of seafood worth some US$3.7 billion, up 13.3 per cent from 2006.
Vietnamese seafood has been present to 145 countries and territories worldwide.
The country now ranks the third in the world in terms of aquaculture, only behind China and India, and ranks the sixth in seafood exports. (Saigon Times Daily, Saigon Liberation)
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