Vietnam is estimated to make seafood export revenues of 1.7 billion U.S. dollars in the first seven months of this year, a year-on-year rise of 24.8 percent, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers on Tuesday.

With the stronger growth, the country will easily beat the target of reaping seafood export earnings of 2.8 billion dollars this year, up from over 2.7 billion dollars last year. It is boosting export of different seafood items, including shrimps and prawns, to traditional markets such as China, the United States, the European Union and Japan, and some new ones like the Middle East, East Europe, Africa and South America.

Vietnam is also focusing on increasing quality of the products, intensifying their trade promotion, and enhancing its capacity of forecasting seafood prices and export demand, said the association.

The country has planned to raise its aquaculture acreage to 1.1 million hectares with output of nearly 2.1 million tons in 2010 from expected 980,000 hectares with output of roughly 1.5 million tons in 2006, the association added.

Source: Xinhua