(vasep.com.vn) In the first 8 months of 2014, seafood imports valued US$ 720 million, up 73% year on year.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), India was the biggest supplier, accounted for 33.5% of total imports, followed by Taiwan with nearly 7% while China was ranked in 8th with 3.1%.
Data from the General Customs also showed that in the past 7 months, Vietnam seafood imports from India was over US$ 203 million, while exports from Vietnam to this market was less than US$8.5 million.
Vietnam mainly imported black tiger shrimps from India to meet the needs of processors.
Seafood imports from India increased sharply in disease outbreak, when domestic supply was not suffient for the demand of exporters and India was considered as an alternative source of raw materials.
Data from MARD showed the decline in black tiger shrimp in terms of area and yield of some provinces in Mekong Delta. Specifically, in the first 8 months of 2014, Bac Lieu produced 34,617 MT of black tiger shrimp, down 7.3% year on year. Meanwhile, Ben Tre yielded 6,244 MT, down 27.4%. In the mean time, Ho Chi Minh City and Ba Ria-Vung Tau fell nearly 7% each in volume.