Seafood production in Vietnam is expected to hit 6.65 million metric tons in 2015, up 5.5% over last, according to Vu Ban Tam, the Southeast Asian nation’s deputy minister of agriculture and rural development. The forecast is for farm-raised products, dominated by shrimp and pangasius, to tip the scales at 3.95 million tons (+9.7%), while wild-caught fishery products will weigh in 2.7 million tons (+0.7% year).
Following shrimp, pangasius is the biggest farm-raised fishery product crop in Vietnam. More than 100 farms (of which 45 are ASC-certified) covering an area of over 2,800 hectares produce the popular species. Most output is exported in frozen fillet form.
The goal is to increase export value to US $8.5 billion. Meanwhile, aquaculture production reportedly reached 6.3 million tons (+4.4%) in 2014, as export value hit $ 7.92 billion, (+18%).
Shrimp aquaculture is big business in Vietnam, where more than 600,000 hectares of ponds are dedicated to farming of black tiger and whiteleg prawns.Solid export figures are available for the months of January through October of 2014, during which time sales of shrimp (overwhelmingly frozen) generated $3.353 billion (+36% over the like period of 2013), while pangasius brought $1.458 billion (+0.8%) in receipts, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP). Whiteleg shrimp was the biggest money maker, fetching $1.957 billion (+62%), compared with $1.184 billion (+8.1%) generated by black tigers.
Tuna sales topped $817 million, while other fish combined (excluding pangasius) exceeded $832 million (+19%). Mollusks fetched $535 million, cephalopods brought in $396 million, and sales of crab and other crustaceans amounted to $104 million.
Vietnam’s tuna resources are estimated at over 600,000 metric tons. The skipjack species account for more than 50% of the nation’s total pelagic fish stocks, with annual landings typically topping 200,000 tons. This compares with annual catches of 17,000 and 21,000 tons for yellow fin and bigeye tuna, respectively.
Seafood sales account for 6-7% of Vietnam’s total exports, with the sector ranked fifth in generating foreign exchange after electronics, apparel, crude oil and footwear. The USA, European Union, Japan, South Korea, China and Hong Kong, the ASEAN countries, and Canada are the top importing markets.
