The Government's export credit policy has helped to ensure the availability of credit sources that has enabled tra fish businesses to boost production and business performance, thereby helping to popularise the Vietnamese tra fish trademark in the global market.

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Viet Nam Tra Fish Association has asked the Government to continue its export credit assistance policy and loosen up lending regulations to help the tra fish industry overcome difficulties.

In a document sent to the Prime Minister this week, the association said it expected the Bank for Development of Viet Nam (BDV) to cut lending interest rates, reduce lending regulations in relation to mortgaged assets and extend the debt repayment periods of tra fish producers and exporters.

The people's committees of several cities and provinces have likewise asked the BDV to expand the list of qualified borrowers under the Government's export credit assistance policy.

Easier access to credit is expected to ease the challenges of businesses, especially those engaged in agriculture and located in isolated rural areas, thereby contributing to a rise in the living standards of rural residents and an increase in export turnover, the people's committees said.

According to the association, the tra fish industry is facing major difficulties resulting from export market restrictions in the wake of a global economic downturn and high anti-dumping duties imposed by the United States on Vietnamese tra fish.

The association said the domestic tra fish industry has benefited from the Government's export credit assistance policies in previous years, adding that tra fish producers and traders have so far been granted access to a significant amount of money from credit sources that enabled them to build processing plants and meet export contracts.

Many tra fish exporters and producers are currently regular customers of their respective credit sources, it noted.

The Government's export credit policy has helped to ensure the availability of credit sources that has enabled tra fish businesses to boost production and business performance, thereby helping to popularise the Vietnamese tra fish trademark in the global market.

According to the association, Viet Nam is currently the world's leading tra fish exporter, with an annual export turnover of nearly US$2 billion. Currently, Vietnamese tra fish are exported to 149 countries and territories, with the European Union and the US, the two largest markets, accounting for nearly half of the exports. — VNS