According to the Association of Seafood Exports and Processors (VASEP) the export volume of tra fish has been surged to most export markets in the first 10 months of 2009. VASEP also said that the United States continued to be Viet Nam’s key importer of tra fish with purchases worth US$15.5 million in October alone, up 2.5 times compared with the same period last year.
It is reported that the US- bound export value of tra fish for the first 10 months of this year to $111 million, 71 percent higher than the same period last year. Tra export value to the US accounted for 10 percent the country’s total export earnings from the fish. It is expected that the tra exports to the US would face many difficulties after the Farm Bill 2008 becomes effective next year.
VASEP has called on Vietnamese seafood exporters to increase the quality of tra fish exports to meet the market’s requests on technology and food hygiene and safety. The association said that the exports of tra fish to Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain also showed signs of recovery in October. It also said that the downward world export prices had eaten into Viet Nam’s earnings from tra fish.
European Union exports also dropped by 7 percent to $454 million while earnings from Russia and Ukraine – Viet Nam’s two key markets in 2008, plunged 95 percent and over 82 percent, respectively. VASEP informed that Viet Nam exported 500,000 tonnes of tra fish in the first 10 months of this year, earning $1.12 billion, 10.3 percent lower in value than the same period of last year.
