Australian customers are buying more seafood from Vietnam, especially shrimp and molluscs.

Vietnam is the third-largest seafood exporter to the Australian market, following New Zealand and China.

Governmental Portal VGP said Australia buys 1 billion USD of 200,000 tonnes of seafood each year from importers.

Of total seafood exports, Vietnamese shrimp exports have turned in the highest revenue.

Last year, Vietnam earned 101 million USD from exporting shrimp toAustralia, a year-on-year increase of nearly 26 percent.

Shrimp accounted for 55 percent of the total Vietnamese seafood export value to this market.

In the first 10 months of this year, shrimp export turnover rose 14percent, making Vietnam one of the biggest shrimp exporters inAustralia.

Along with shrimp, bivalve molluscs have also sold well.

While the number of exports had fallen in traditional markets like the US, sales have recently increased in Australia.

Export revenue of molluscs through mid-November rose 5.8 percent year-on-year, to reach 1.4 million USD.

Experts said this revenue was remarkable as the value was down in fourmonths of February, April, June and August by between 18.6 percent and93 percent.

In other months, the number of exports of bivalve molluscs significantly surged.

For example, it rose by 146 percent in January and 281 percent inMarch. In the first half of October, it jumped by 241 percentyear-on-year.

With this result, Australia hasattracted the attention of Vietnamese seafood exporters, especiallywith its tax incentives.

However, to win the market,experts said domestic exporters should diversify their products toimprove competitiveness and ensure food hygiene and safety.

Exporters must also increase the number of promotions to advertise their products and trademarks.-VNA