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VIETNAM is eyeing Europe and the UK as one of the main targets for increasing its seafood exports.
The South East Asian country, one of the fastest growing fish farming states in the region, describes Europe as a promising market with a huge demand for Pangasius, which the Vietnamese call tra fish.
Nguyen Huu Dung, the vice president of the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, confirmed Viet Nam's export intentions while receiving Scottish European Parliament Member Struan Stevenson, who highlighted the achievements of Viet Nam's tra fish industry during the past decade, when in Ha Noi recently.
Mr Nguyen Dung said Vietnam has focused on improving the quality of its seafood products while prioritising the sustainable development of the tra fish sector. Tra fish processors have adopted international hygienic safety and environmentally friendly standards in order to receive Global Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), Best Aquaculture Practice (BAP) and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification.
He added that the fisheries sector had achieved remarkable achievements in tra fish aquaculture and exports. Tra fish ranked second amongst Viet Nam's seafood products in terms of export volume. The country's present tra fish farming areas had quintupled since 2001.
Tra fish output had risen from 37,500 tonnes in 2001 to 1.35 million tonnes in 2010, its export value increasing from US$40 million to almost $1.43 billion. Amongst Viet Nam's 136 importers, Europe is the largest, adding 35.8 per cent to the country's total export revenue, he said Over 49 tra fish processors (45 per cent of Viet Nam's fish processors) have started applying GlobalGAP standards while five tra fish farms have adopted the Pangasius Aquaculture Dialogues (PAD) and ASC standards.
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