The water surface for tra and basa fish farming in the Mekong Delta totals 5,154 ha so far, an increase of 597 ha over the same period last year, or 2.7 times over early 2009.

As a result, the nation’s largest tra and basa fish supplying region has netted 457,000 tonnes by mid-August, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The figure represented a monthly increase of 13.5 percent over the past eight months.

Amid the global financial crisis, the exports of tra and basa fish enjoyed a rise in both volume and revenue from May to July, bringing total exports in the first seven months to 325,920 tonnes in output and over 737.1 million USD in revenues.

The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has painted a rosy picture for the prospects of tra and basa fish export based on the upward trend of the Euro value against the US dollar in the context that the European Union is the major market.

The EU accounts for almost half of Vietnam ’s total tra and basa fish export revenue./.