This would bring in an annual export turnover of US$6-8 billion. If the industry continues to rely on domestic sources of unprocessed seafood, it will struggle to break the US$4 billion barrier, VASEP said.

A VASEP survey has concluded that in the future, Vietnam’s waters are unlikely to yield more than the current 3.2 million tonnes of seafood per year, as inshore fish stocks become exhausted and offshore fishing remains insignificant.

Most domestic seafood processing plants run at less than half their capacity due to the shortfall in unprocessed stocks. A number of plants in southern and central provinces have even been forced to shut down for up to nine months a year.

At maximum efficiency, the country’s plants can process 4.5-5.1 million tonnes of seafood, so we must turn to imports, the association said.

Worldwide, unprocessed seafood is increasingly being shipped to developing countries for processing, before being exported to developed countries, said VASEP vice chairman Nguyen Huu Dung.

China, the world’s largest seafood exporter, leads the way. Last year, the country imported US$5.3 billion worth of unprocessed seafood that fetched US$9 billion in export turnover, he said.

Like China, Vietnam can be successful if it wins contracts to process seafood from North Europe, North and South America, the South Pacific nations and developing countries elsewhere, VASEP said.

Vietnam could pass Canada, the US and Thailand to become the world’s second largest seafood exporter if it imports US$1-2 billion of seafood per year.

However, upping imports will require domestic processing plants to modernize and improve their management skills to meet international standards and contact obligations.

Vietnamese fisheries will also be forced to improve if they are to compete with imported fish, said VASEP.

VASEP recommend that the Government slash the import tax on unprocessed seafood from 20-30 percent to 0-0.5 percent. Other countries including China, Thailand and Malaysia, have made unprocessed seafood imports tax exempt.

The association wants the Government to approve its seafood import plans that run to 2020. Included are a series of industry-specific policies on tax, customs, finance, import sources and hygiene that the Government should adopt.

If their proposals are realized, VASEP expects Vietnam will earn an annual seafood export turnover of at least US$7.5-8 billion by 2020.