Vietnam; Seafood sector to stress value-added products

[Nicaonline]

Vietnam news

(01-11-2006)

HA NOI — The fisheries sector will gear exports toward high-valued products rather than raw materials in the next four years, according to the latest industry report.

The report revealed the industry’s export programme for 2010 and orientation for 2020, which has just been approved by the Prime Minister.

Annual export revenues are expected to increase by 9 per cent on average to between US$4 billion and $4.5 billion by 2010. The processing industry is working to reach international standards in terms of technology to enable the fisheries sector to remain one of the nation’s major cash earners.

One of the key measures is to restructure the production activities to focus on boosting large-scale aquaculture areas and cementing links between farmers, scientists and regulators to increase mass-production quantities and ensure food safety.

The Government plans to issue preferential policies to encourage all economic sectors and foreign businesses to invest in the fisheries sector.

According to the report, investment should be channeled into large-scale fish product-processing centres, regions with large numbers of fish markets, and communities along the China borderline.

A bulk of the investments should go to boosting aquaculture and upgrade the processing industry, the sector’s strategy report revealed.

The fisheries sector plans to ship 25 per cent of the nation’s total seafood exports to Japan, 23-25 per cent to the US, 20-22 per cent to the European Union, 7-9 per cent to China, including Hong Kong, and 8 per cent to South Korea in the next four years. — VNS