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Seafood exports to hit $8b by 2020
Seafood exports are forecast to grow by 8-10 per cent per year, with annual export value to grow from a current level of about US$5 billion to US$6.5-6.7 billion by 2015 and $8 billion by 2020, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam.
The US, EU and Japan would continue to be the three primary export markets for the nation's seafood, accounting for 60-65 per cent of total exports.
To meet the targets, the industry would move beyond its reliance on current key products like tra fish and shrimp and develop the export potential of other seafood products, including tuna, tilapia, shellfish and seaweed, Tam said.
Former deputy minister Nguyen Thi Hong Minh said that the seafood industry had been developed and modernised to become more competitive but would need to take further steps to reach the ministry targets, including better balancing the supply of raw materials with the demand of seafood processors.
Minh noted that a State-sponsored fund must be established to promote Vietnamese seafood in a number of countries, with exporters required to contribute to the fund.
It would make the seafood industry better prepared to respond to such challenges as the Word Wildlife Fund's listing of tra fish in its "Red Book" of endangered species.
At that time, Viet Nam failed to mount a strong campaign to protest the listing, Minh said, succeeding only in holding conferences that disseminated information to authorities and enterprises.
In the first five months of this year, the nation's seafood exports totalled $2.1 billion, an increase of 27.3 per cent over the same period a year ago, according to ministry figures.
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