Vietnam has the advantage of a long coastline and sufficient water surface area for developing both brackish and freshwater aquaculture. (Photo: vneconomy.vn) HCM City (VNA) – The growth in Vietnam's seafood exportturnover in recent years has been created from the foundation of theaquatic farming, exploitation and processing industry.
Vietnam’saquaculture industry has not only served the sizable domestic market with apopulation of about 100 million but also gradually conquered the world market, said Truong Dinh Hoe, General Secretary of the VietnamAssociation of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Hoesaid that along with the growth of global seafood consumption demand, Vietnam'saquaculture product export turnover has maintained growth for many years andreached 11 billion USD in 2022, 12 times higher than that of 1998.
Notonly growing in output, Vietnamese aquacultural products are also considered a source ofprotein with stable quality and increasingly high nutritional value,contributing to ensuring food supply for people arround the world. Currently,Vietnam is the third largest seafood exporter in the world, after China andNorway.
Vietnam’sfisheries industry now has advantages. First, seafood consumption is increasing globally while natural aquatic resources are limitedand seafood supply must rely on aquaculture activities. Vietnam has the advantage of a long coastline and sufficientwater surface area for developing both brackish and freshwater aquaculture. Ofthe total world shrimp production of about 6 million tonnes per year, Vietnamcontributes about 1 million tonnes.
Thesecond advantage is that Vietnamese businesses can catch up with the world inprocessing technology, particularly deep processing to make value-addedproducts.
Thirdly,Vietnam has integrated widely and deeply into the global economy through signing andimplementing new-generation free trade agreements (FTAs) with countries andregions that are large consumption markets.
Workers process shrimp for export in Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: VNA) However,Vietnam’s fisheries sector faces disadvantages such as small-scaleproduction, mostly household farming, and negative impacts of climate changethat result in the shrinking of freshwater aquaculture areas, Hoe said.
Headded that Vietnam has strengths in processing technology and consumptionmarkets.
Theissue that its aquaculture sector needs to address now is how to optimizeproduction costs through minimizing input costs.
Long-termsolutions are also needed such as gradually increasing the rate of large-scaleproduction, applying high technology to improve productivity, and attractinginvestment in local animal feed and breed production to reduce its reliance onimported sources.
Hoesaid that Vietnamese aquacultural products are present in over 170 countriesand territories all over the world, so finding new markets is no longer apriority.
Inthe context of a decline in purchasing power in major markets, businesses andassociations need to step up trade promotion to effectively exploit thepotential of each market.
Regardingthe increasing trend of green production and green consumption, the VASEPrepresentative said that Vietnam's fisheries industry is "goinggreen" quite well.
Upto 70% of raw materials used to make products for export are raised at farms.Vietnam has more and more farms and farming areas that have receivedinternational certifications for responsibly farmed aquatic products, minimizednegative impacts on the environment, ecosystem, and community, and meeting labourregulations.
Outof 847 industrial-scale factories with food safety certificates, over 690factories received codes for exporting products to the EU. For the US market,Vietnamese products also meet Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP).
AsVietnam committed to net zero emissions by 2050, it's time for everyindustry and business to make moves including the use of energy-efficientequipment, renewable energy, and low-carbon packaging./.
