VASEP predicts seafood exports to climb this year

Last year, the total export value of seafood reached $6.7 billion for the whole year, higher than the target of $6.5 billion. — Photo vifep

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Viet Nam Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) expects Viet Nam to export seafood worth about US$7.7 billion in 2014, due to high demand by the end of the year.

Nguyen Hoai Nam, deputy general secretary of VASEP, said that since the beginning of this year, the nation has exported seafood worth an average of $644 million per month. This is based on the General Department of Customs' statistics of $5.8 billion of seafood exports during the first nine months of this year, reported the Hai Quan newspaper.

Based on the average monthly export value, the nation expects to gain around $1.9 billion in the last quarter of this year, he pointed out.

Last year, the total export value of seafood reached $6.7 billion for the whole year, higher than the target of $6.5 billion. VASEP hopes for success again this year, he said, adding that it will be primarily due to the high export value of shrimp.

So far, the total shrimp export value has accounted for 50 per cent of the total export value of seafood products. In the first nine months, shrimp exports to key markets such as the United States, the European Union and South Korea increased sharply.

Tra fish came second, accounting for 22 per cent of the total seafood export value, even though it faced several challenges in the export markets, Nam said.

According to some experts, tra fish exporters will get a chance to promote their products at the end of the year, because they will get more orders from export markets for Christmas and New Year holidays.

VASEP expects shrimp and tra fish export values to reach $3.5 billion and 1.8 billion respectively, for the whole year.

The Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry reported that in the first 10 months of this year, the total export value of seafood gained a year-on-year increase of 19.9 per cent to touch $6.48 billion.

The United States continues to be the largest export market for Vietnamese seafood products, accounting for 22.25 per cent of the total national seafood export value. — VNS