Vietnam attaches importance to boosting seafood exports to the Europeanmarket – a promising market with a huge tra fish consumption demand, anindustry organisation official has said.

Vice President of theVietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) NguyenHuu Dung made the confirmation while receiving European ParliamentMember Struan Stevenson, who highlighted the achievements of Vietnam’stra fish (Pangasius) industry over the past decade, in Hanoi on May 16.

Thenation focused on improving seafood product quality and prioritisedsustainable development of the tra fish sector, Dung said. Tra fishprocessors have adopted international hygienic safety andenvironmentally friendly standards to get the Global Good AgriculturalPractice (GAP), Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) and the AquacultureStewardship Council (ASC) certifications.

The VASEP leader alsosaid the national fisheries sector has recorded remarkable achievementsin tra fish aquaculture and exports. Tra fish ranked second amongVietnam’s seafood products in terms of export volume, Dung said, addingthat the country’s present tra fish farming areas quintupled to 6,000 hafrom 2001.

According to Dung, tra fish materials output rosefrom 37,500 tonnes in 2001 to 1.35 million tonnes in 2010 and its exportvalue increased from 40 million USD to almost 1.43 billion USD duringthe review period. Among Vietnam’s 136 tra fish importers, Europe is thelargest, making up 35.8 percent of the country’s total export revenues.

Therewere 49 tra fish processors or 45 percent of the country’s fishprocessors applying GlobalGAP standards. In particular, five tra fishfarms were adopting the Pangasius Aquaculture Dialogues (PAD) and ASCstandards.

Vietnam has signed a cooperation agreement with theWorld Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on tra fish sector’s sustainabledevelopment to meet the ASC standard and the Aquaculture ImprovementProject (AIP) for tra fish during the 2011-2015 period./.