Vietnam’s fisheries sector has grownat about 18 percent per annum during the 1998-2008 period - one of thefastest rates for the sector in the world - yet worries remain that thegrowth is not sustainable.
At a seminar on theimpact of the World Trade Organisation entry on the fisheries sectorheld on August 20, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development(MARD) said that Vietnam since 2001 has been listed among the top tenaquatic product exporters in the world, and, in 2008, the countryjumped to sixth place in export turnover, third in aquaculture outputand 13th in seafood catch.
Within two years of the WTO integration, the sector has achieved highgrowth rates, with 4.2 million tonnes in output and 3.8 billion USD inexport turnover recorded in 2007, and 4.6 million tonnes and 4.6billion USD in 2008.
The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) saidVietnam’s aquatic products now are sold to more than 160 countries andterritories worldwide with the quality continuously improving.
So far, over 300 enterprises meet EU standards for imported products,and more than 400 export to the US , China , the Republic of Korea andother markets.
For the domestic economy, the fisheries sector plays an important role,contributing some 7.3 percent of the country’s total export value in2008, providing jobs to more than 4 million labourers, and bringingdirect or indirect income to some 10 percent of the population. Duringthe past 15 years, the sector has contributed over 5 percent to thecountry’s GDP.
On the domestic market, aquatic products are among the traditionalfoods favoured by Vietnamese, particularly the fresh ones. EachVietnamese annually consumes an average of up to 36 kg, and the figureis continuing to increase.
However, it is the sector’s high growth in both production and exportvalue that provokes concern over the sustainability of thisdevelopment.
“The development of the fisheries sector in the recent times is tooquick and unstable in all economic, environmental and social aspects,”said VASEP Vice President Nguyen Huu Dung.
Besides threats to the environment or the exhaustion of aquaticresources, Vietnamese aquatic producers have not yet built uptrademarks for their products, and have to sell under the labels ofimporters or foreign distribution networks.
Moreover, according to VASEP, the promotion of Vietnamese aquaticproducts on the world market is hindered by an irrational productionprice structure, in which material costs account for 70 percent oftotal costs, where as transport, transaction fees and marketing puttogether only make up 1 percent.
Officials from the MARD’s Department for International Cooperationworry that the implementation of a series of WTO commitments from nowto Oct. 1, 2010, including product origin labels and the management offishing boats, is an “impossible” task for the sector.
Thus, the seminar was held with the aim of collecting suggestions fromexperts and authorities from the localities with fishery-driveneconomies in order to complete and issue a national plan of action tosustainably develop the sector in the 2010-2012 period./.
At a seminar on theimpact of the World Trade Organisation entry on the fisheries sectorheld on August 20, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development(MARD) said that Vietnam since 2001 has been listed among the top tenaquatic product exporters in the world, and, in 2008, the countryjumped to sixth place in export turnover, third in aquaculture outputand 13th in seafood catch.
Within two years of the WTO integration, the sector has achieved highgrowth rates, with 4.2 million tonnes in output and 3.8 billion USD inexport turnover recorded in 2007, and 4.6 million tonnes and 4.6billion USD in 2008.
The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) saidVietnam’s aquatic products now are sold to more than 160 countries andterritories worldwide with the quality continuously improving.
So far, over 300 enterprises meet EU standards for imported products,and more than 400 export to the US , China , the Republic of Korea andother markets.
For the domestic economy, the fisheries sector plays an important role,contributing some 7.3 percent of the country’s total export value in2008, providing jobs to more than 4 million labourers, and bringingdirect or indirect income to some 10 percent of the population. Duringthe past 15 years, the sector has contributed over 5 percent to thecountry’s GDP.
On the domestic market, aquatic products are among the traditionalfoods favoured by Vietnamese, particularly the fresh ones. EachVietnamese annually consumes an average of up to 36 kg, and the figureis continuing to increase.
However, it is the sector’s high growth in both production and exportvalue that provokes concern over the sustainability of thisdevelopment.
“The development of the fisheries sector in the recent times is tooquick and unstable in all economic, environmental and social aspects,”said VASEP Vice President Nguyen Huu Dung.
Besides threats to the environment or the exhaustion of aquaticresources, Vietnamese aquatic producers have not yet built uptrademarks for their products, and have to sell under the labels ofimporters or foreign distribution networks.
Moreover, according to VASEP, the promotion of Vietnamese aquaticproducts on the world market is hindered by an irrational productionprice structure, in which material costs account for 70 percent oftotal costs, where as transport, transaction fees and marketing puttogether only make up 1 percent.
Officials from the MARD’s Department for International Cooperationworry that the implementation of a series of WTO commitments from nowto Oct. 1, 2010, including product origin labels and the management offishing boats, is an “impossible” task for the sector.
Thus, the seminar was held with the aim of collecting suggestions fromexperts and authorities from the localities with fishery-driveneconomies in order to complete and issue a national plan of action tosustainably develop the sector in the 2010-2012 period./.
