[SafeSeafood - 01/30/2010 09:37:10 AM]

Exports reached 41,600 tonnes worth USD 155.6 million, 32 per cent higher in volume and 10.9 per cent in value compared with figures from 2008.

Exports of dried seafood soared in 2009 despite a slow start to the year.  Last year, South Korea, the US, Taiwan, Japan and member countries of the Assocition of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were all key importers of Vietnamese dried seafood products. These countries imported over 80 per cent of Vietnam’s total dried seafood products.

Exports reached 41,600 tonnes worth USD 155.6 million, 32 per cent higher in volume and 10.9 per cent in value compared with figures from 2008. In the first half of 2009, dried seafood exports fell compared to the previous year due to the global economic crisis.

However, dried seafood exports rose starting in July compared to the same period in 2008 despite the precarious market.

South Korea was the biggest single importer of Vietnamese dried seafood products, importing 11,697 tonnes worth USD 59.12 million, followed by the US, whose imports climbed by 81.8 per cent in value against the previous year’s. Japan’s imports grew by 56.6 per cent, Taiwan’s by 36.5 per cent and ASEAN countries’ by 2.9 per cent.

Conversely, the value of dried seafood exports to Russia and Ukraine plunged by 76.3 per cent and 65.8 per cent, respectively, last year.

Total seafood exports yielded USD 4.25 billion last year, 5.7 per cent less than in 2008.

(From VASEP)