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The value of the country's tra fish exports to Canada in the first nine months of 2014 reached US$28.9 million, a 4.5-per cent year-on-year increase. — Photo baodatviet
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HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam's tra fish exporters should expand their market to Canada to avoid a state of dependence on existing key export markets, experts said.
According to Viet Nam's General Department of Customs, the value of the country's tra fish exports to Canada in the first nine months of 2014 reached US$28.9 million, a 4.5-per cent year-on-year increase.
The price of frozen Vietnamese tra fish exports to Canada likewise surged compared with that of last year, the customs department said.
The Trade Office of Viet Nam in Canada revealed that the North American country has a consumption style similar to that of its neighbour, the United States, but without the strict regulations of the US market.
If domestic seafood companies enter the Canadian market, they could increase the volume of their exports to the US, said the Cong thuong newspaper.
For Canadian customers, nutrition, safety and convenience are the quality standards that they expect exports to meet, and they are ready to pay a high price for quality products, the trade office said.
Some domestic seafood enterprises admitted that Canada was likewise an attractive market for other Vietnamese seafood products because it has an average import value of US$500 billion per year.
This makes the US neighbour an attractive market for all countries in the world, including Viet Nam, reported the Thoi bao Kinh doanh (Business Times) newspaper.
To promote seafood exports in this potential market, domestic exporters should improve the quality of their products to increase competitiveness and adopt professional marketing strategies, the trade office added.
They should pay special attention to the labels of products, as well as the time and conditions for delivering goods, prices and the ability to supply goods.
According to Hua Van Hao, president of Kien Fat Trade Company in Toronto, Viet Nam should strengthen the state management of tra fish exports in terms of quality and price in order to meet international standards.
Lenny Wong, executive director of Ocean Parkers Inc., stressed the large potential of the Canadian market for Vietnamese seafood products, adding that his company had imported and distributed 600 containers of tra fish and ba sa fish all over Canada every year.
Wong also said Viet Nam should set up a quality control system suitable to Canadian market standards to ensure that domestic seafood products pass the tests of the Canada Food Investigation Agency. — VNS