US remains Vietnam's biggest seafood importer

Despite numerous trade barriers, the United States remained the biggest importer of Vietnamese seafood in the first month of this year, accounting for 19.15 percent of the country's export market share, followed by Japan with 17.81 percent and South Korea with 8.36 percent, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on Monday. Vietnam earned about 376 million U.S. dollars from seafood exports last month, an increase of 3.5 percent compared to the same period last year. Local experts forecast that seafood sector would face many difficulties this year, including lack of capital for production, shortage of raw materials and labor force. However, due to the declining supply of fishing and breeding aquatic products in the world market, Vietnam can tap the favorable opportunity to earn about 6.5 billion dollars from seafood exports this year over 6.15 billion dollars in 2012. According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), local large seafood exporters, especially those exporting products to the United States, are now under great pressure due to the shrimp price dumping suitcase filed by the American Shrimp Alliance. VASEP asked its members to prepare full proof for their non-violation, especially that related to government's financial support. Meanwhile, MARD urged relevant agencies to invest more in expanding the aquatic breeding farms, with focus on shrimps, tra fish, tuna and mollusk.