Vietnam’s potential to export seafood to Australia is relatively
high, and the fishery industry needs to promote and diversify its
products to boost exports, said Nguyen Bao, Head of the Vietnam Trade
Office in Australia .
Australia imports
around 200,000 tonnes of seafood each year – a quarter of this is from
Vietnam . It is Vietnam’s 5th largest seafood market. In 2012,
Vietnam generated over 182,000 USD from seafood exports to the
country, a year-on-year increase of 11.69 percent.
To increase seafood exports to Australia, Bao said the industry
should concentrate on guaranteeing the safety of its food, intensify
trade promotion activities and popularise products.
It should also export semi-processed and processed products to meet
Australian demand. This will increase the diversity of the industry’s
products, enhance market penetration and raise revenue, he added.
Chairman of the Seafood Importers Association of Australia Norman
Grant shared the same view on measures to increase Vietnamese seafood
exports. He stressed the importance of raising Australian people’s
awareness of Vietnam ’s seafood quality because false information has
resulted in a fall in consumption.-VNA