Seafood exports to China surge

Tra fish processing for exports (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – China is projected to become Vietnam’s leading seafood importer from this year’s second quarter with growth of 37 percent, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam.

Vietnam’s seafood export value to China rose to 1.28 billion USD in 2017, helping the country become Vietnam’s fourth biggest seafood importer and accounting for 15 percent of total import turnover.

Nam revealed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will soon hold a trade promotion event in the northern province of Quang Ninh with Chinese importers. 

The ministry will also pay working visits to China to address trade barriers for exports of Vietnam’s staples such as seafood, fruits and rice, among others.

China is currently Vietnam’s biggest trade partner, while Vietnam is China’s largest trader in ASEAN.

Two-way trade reached 93.6 billion USD in 2017, up 30 percent year-on-year, and accounting for 22 percent of Vietnam’s total import-export turnover. Of the total, 35.4 billion USD came from Vietnam’s exports.

In the first five months of 2018, Vietnam recorded a year-on-year rise of 9.7 percent in aquatic export value to 3.12 billion USD. The figure for May alone was estimated at 671 million USD.

The US, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea were the four biggest importers of Vietnamese aquatic products between January and April, making up 52.7 percent of total fishery exports in the period.

Meanwhile, markets with strong growth in aquatic imports from Vietnam were the Netherlands (60.2 percent), China (28.8 percent), the UK (27.4 percent) and Germany (27 percent).