Aquaculture output in the first four months of the year hit 1 million tonnes. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Aquaculture output in the first four months of the yearhit 1 million tonnes, up 6 percent from the same time last year, according tothe Directorate of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (MARD).
In the period, the Mekong Delta region harvested some 373,000 tonnes of trafish, a year-on-year surge of 8 percent.
With tra fish fetching high prices, local farmers have rushed to dig ponds andbreed more fish, leading to the scarcity of fish fry and increase in theirprices.
In a stark contrast, farmers have been rushing off their feet to harvest shrimpfor fear of price drop. Each kilogramme of white-leg shrimp is being sold at110,000-120,000 VND (4.84- 5.28 USD), decreasing 10,000-20,000 VND (0.44-0.88USD) per kg from the previous month.
The country earned some2.4 billion USD from exporting aquatic products in the first four months of2018, representing a year-on-year rise of 13 percent.
In April alone, the country raked in 650 million USD from the export of aquaticproducts.
The US, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea were the biggest importers inJanuary-March, making up 52 percent of the Southeast Asian country’s totalaquatic product exports. The highest growth was reported in the Netherlands(55.7 percent), China (44.6 percent) and the UK (33.8 percent).
In the four-month period, Vietnam imported 536 million USD worth of aquaticproducts, up 27.4 percent against the same period last year. Of the figure, 130million worth of aquatic products were imported in April.
Aquatic product exports in 2018 are expected to exceed 8.5 billion USD, upabout 3 percent compared to 2017, though Vietnam's exports to the US and EUmarkets will continue to be affected by catfish inspection, anti-dumping andillegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), according to the VASEP.-VNA
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