The country’s premier fisheries expo, the Viet Nam Fisheries International Exhibition, opened at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre in HCM City on August 24 after a gap of two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Organised by the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Vietfish 2022 has brought together nearly 200 leading seafood processing and exporting companies in Viet Nam and 14 other countries and territories.

Truong Dinh Hoe, VASEP’s general secretary, said the expo is not only a forum connecting seafood processing and exporting enterprises, but also a place to keep up-to-date on information and new achievements of the fishery sector in Viet Nam and around the world, including breeds, animal feed, biological products, production and processing equipment and technology.

Vietnamese consumers will have the opportunity to learn and enjoy Vietnamese seafood products that meet the highest standards of food safety, and are exported to 165 countries around the world, he said.

To run until August 26, the expo also includes a series of seminars that bring multi-dimensional perspectives and useful information to help the sector achieve stable production, address the challenges related to ecological and social sustainability and capitalise on opportunities to improve the value and competitiveness of Vietnamese seafood products in the international market, he said.

According to the association, the rapid recovery of import markets after the pandemic along with fluctuations in the supply of white fish from Russia have paved the way for Viet Nam’s seafood industry to speed up its recovery and improve its performance in the first half of 2022.

The biggest challenge for Viet Nam’s fishery sector is to establish a new balanced system in order to continue to increase its competitive advantage and promote advantages gained in the past period.

That is the balance between supply and demand in key markets; between output and quality in accordance with increasingly stringent global standards; between production cost and actual profit to ensure minimum profit margin for the whole chain; between productivity, efficiency and ecosystem limits to ensure industry-wide sustainability, especially as climate change and environmental issues are and will pose major challenges to the Vietnamese fisheries sector.

To realise those goals, coordination among stakeholders involved in the whole industry and the entire value chain is needed.

Seafood export reached over US$8.9 billion last year and is expected to top $10 billion this year. Viet Nam is among the top three suppliers of seafood products to the global market. — VNS