Vietnam seafood has ‘banner’ year
(VOV) - Vietnam’s seafood exports increased 18% on-year to US$7.9 billion for the 12 months leading up to 2015, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), buoyed by record high shrimp exports to the US market.
Shrimp exports alone for the year appreciated 25% on-year overall to an all time record high of US$4.1 billion, with white-leg shrimp posting the highest growth rate.The US continues to lead among nations importing Vietnamese shrimp despite a slight downtrend in the final months of the year. Meanwhile shrimp exports for the year to the EU also increased sharply over 2013.
Apart from the three traditional export markets of the US, Japan and EU – shrimp exports to other markets like the Republic of Korea, Australia and Canada – also saw positivesigns with double-digit growth.
Government economists are sanguine on the prospects for Vietnamese seafood exports in 2015, particularly in light of the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement, which is expected to be signed early in the year.
If Vietnam seafood exporters keep their eye on improving quality to meet the increasing demand for imports from the US, EU and Japan, next year is destined to be more prosperous says Nguyen Hoai Nam, Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).