Thriving seafood exports to Middle East, Africa hold promise for fisheries

Vietnam’s seafood exports to the Middle East and Africa last year reached US$254 million and US$95.2 million, respectively, according to the Asia-Africa Market Department (AAMD) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

At a seminar on agricultural and seafood product exports to the Middle East and Africa in Hanoi on July 5, Do Quoc Hung, deputy head of the AAMD, said that seafood is an important product in trade between Vietnam and the Middle East and Africa and has seen consistent strong growth over recent years.

It is necessary to list the Middle East and Africa in Vietnam’s seafood export strategy and to set up distribution networks for the sustainable development of those export markets, Mr Hung added.

He proposed Vietnamese businesses build unique brand names for their products, pay more attention to packaging and branding, and improve the quality of products to meet international quality standards.

At present, many seafood businesses say they have suffered great losses as a result of the European Commission’s (EC) issuance of a "yellow card" warning to Vietnam.

As seafood exports to traditional markets such as the EU and the US are currently facing a number of difficulties related to tariff barriers and food hygiene and safety quarantines, expanding to promising markets like the Middle East and Africa is an appropriate orientation which will help to successfully fulfil the impending target of US$10 billion in export revenue for 2018 and increasing exports over the coming years.