Vietnam to Host Global Shrimp Conference in late 2005

Vietnam to Host Global Shrimp Conference in late 2005

Vietnam has recently been selected by the Global Aqualculture Alliance (GAA) to host the Global Shrimp Outlook 2005 (GSOL) conference by the end of this October with the participation of the world's leading shrimp importers, exporters and producers, government officials said.

Around 300 shrimp businesses worldwide are expected to participated in the conference, Nguyen Huu Dzung, General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) quoted the GAA chairman George Chamberlain as saying.

Global Aquaculture Alliance presents GSOL to help buyers and sellers make informed decisions with a focused review of supply from top shrimp-producing countries, demand in major global markets and projected pricing for 2005.

Proprietary reports from top industry experts and executives on production and prices will be presented at the meeting. In addition, panel discussions will allow participants to actively address such issues as antidumping, antibiotic residues, product traceability and facility certification.

The Global Shrimp Outlook 2004 was held in Thailand. The previous ones were in Singapore, Indonesia and Mexico. GAA selected Vietnam to host the event due to concerns over the anti-dumping shrimp lawsuit faced by local producers and because the country is among the fastest growing shrimp raising countries in South East Asia.

Vietnamese shrimp processing enterprises have processed more than 43,000 tons of frozen shrimp for exports from early this year, down 2.6  against the same period last year.

In related news, Vietnam is still one of the six biggest suppliers of shrimp products to the US market in the first quarter of this year, following Indonesia, Thailand, Ecuador, China and India. In 1999, the US imported 331,706 tons of shrimp products and up to 400,335 tons in 2001 and 617,620 tons last year.

VNA, Vnexpress