Vietnam exported US$744 million worth of seafood products in the first quarter of 2009, down 7 per cent on year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The decrease is resulted from the fact that many Vietnam’s seafood importers have not yet recovered from the world financial crisis.
Tra and basa catfish surpassed shrimp to be the most forex earning with US$208.4 million, accounting for 36 per cent of total seafood export revenue, but down 5 per cent against the first quarter of 2008.
Export of shrimp brought in US$181.2 million, accounting for 31 per cent and down 7.3 per cent on year.
Meanwhile, exports of cuttle-fish decreased nearly 15 per cent to only US$38 million and dried seafood decreased 14.3 per cent to US$19.2 million.
The ministry said among seafood items, export of tuna saw sharpest fall of nearly 40 per cent.
Tran Thien Hai, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said during the first three months of this year, Vietnamese seafood exporters lost 37 markets from 2008 due to low quality. Currently, only 122 countries okay to import Vietnamese seafood.
Duong Ngoc Minh, chief executive official of the Hung Vuong JSC said 10 per cent of catfish export volume is low quality that badly affects Vietnamese catfish repute.
The VASEP said among importers, EU bloc was still the biggest with total revenue of US$150.6 million, accounting for 26 per cent of Vietnam’s total seafood export revenue, but down 15 per cent on year.
Followings were Japan and the U.S. but exports to these two markets also decreased by 15 per cent.
Meanwhile, export to smaller markets like China and Australia increased by 38 per cent and 40 per cent respectively. Export of shrimp to China increased 140 per cent in the first quarter to US$12.7 million.
The VASEP said currently many seafood processing plants in Mekong Delta have to run at only 35 per cent-40 per cent of their full capacity due to material shortage or are forced to buy aquatic products at higher price than export to maintain production and fulfill already-signed contracts.
The association expected that the country will earn US$4.5 billion from seafood export this year, equal to the figure in 2008. (Vietnam & World Economy, Vietnam Agriculture)
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