Vietnam expects to earn around 2.6 billion USD from shrimp exports in 2013, up by 15 percent against last year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

The positive forecast has been attributed to the sharply increasing price of domestic shrimp, which is expected to bring higher profits to shrimp breeders and accelerate shrimp hatching to ensure a steady supply for export.

The expected hike in the export value has also been influenced by the US Department of Commerce’s (DoC) recent confirmation that Vietnamese businesses trading with the US do not dump their frozen warm-water shrimp products on the market at costs that undercut domestic producers.

This key recognition will also help boost Vietnam’s shrimp exports to other major markets such as the EU and Japan.

Vietnamese enterprises’ turnover from shrimp exports is now at least 250 million USD per month.

VASEP have also revealed that Vietnam earned over 337 million USD from shrimp exports to the US, accounting for one quarter of the country’s total shrimp exports, in the first seven months of this year.

Meanwhile, shrimp exports to the Japanese and EU markets have seen year-on-year growth of 11 percent and 3 percent respectively over the reviewed period.

Vietnam has earlier planned to make export earnings of 2.4 billion USD from shrimp this year.-VNA