Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnamese trafish (pangasius) and seafood fair is scheduled to take place at the Hanoi-basedAgricultural Exhibition Centre from October 6-8.

The fair is expected to attract more than 100booths of domestic and foreign enterprises, according to the Directorate ofFisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

Within the framework of the event, there will be a seminar on tra fishproduction and consumption, and a food court introducing dishes made from trafish.

Tra fish is a popular choice of housewives thanks to its high nutritiousvalues, especially its fat which comprises up to 80 percent of polyunsaturated fatty acidsand no cholesterol.

Tran Thi Hoa, from Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi, said she buys tra fish becausethis kind of fish is good for health and it is already processed, helping her savecooking time.

Vietnamese tra fish has been shipped to 150 countries and territoriesnationwide, including choosy markets like the US and the Europe. Vietnam’s trafish export to China, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), theMideast, Brazil and Mexico has also increased recently.

The Vietnamese Government has listed tra fish in the National ProductDevelopment Programme by 2020.

Tran Dinh Luan, deputy head of the Directorate of Fisheries, said the MARD hasassigned the directorate to establish a public-private partnership group infisheries, which will coordinate with the Vietnam Pangasius Association, theVietnam Fisheries Societies, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters andProducers, and a number of non-governmental organisations, to organise a club oftra fish businesses.

The group will also connect with supermarkets and restaurants to promote trafish consumption, he said.

Apart from 60 kinds of tra fish products, there are oil and collagen extractedfrom tra fish./.