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Seafood exports up and down
Seafood exports were up this month over June but are still down on last year.
Exports were worth US$410 million this month compared to $380 million in June, a rise of 8 per cent.
However, export revenues in the first seven months of this year reached only $2.2 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 9 per cent.
Tran Ngoc Yen, from the Information Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development, blamed the global economic crisis for the decline in seafood sales.
In response to falling demand, farmers are cutting back on production.
According to a study by AgroInfo conducted in An Giang Province, one of the leading seafood regions in the country, farmers have cut back production by 60 per cent.
Yen said she expected demand to continue to fall this year, leading to a cutting back in production.
Making matters worse for producers, perceived import tariffs are making Vietnamese seafood exports less competitive.
These include the US anti-dumping law on Vietnamese catfish and the European Union’s illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing regulation that forbids imports of unsourced seafood.
Le Minh Man, seafood trading director at Cargill Company, said enterprises should cut back production in response to declining demand so as not to swamp the market.
He also suggested that exporters look for new markets outside the US and the EU.
In response to falling demand, Viet Nam has revised down its seafood export target for 2009 from $4.5 billion to $4 billion.
vietnamnews
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