Negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and the European Union are still going on, but the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has high hopes.
The FTA is expected to open many doors for Vietnamese seafood to enter the EU, a market which consists of more than 500 million consumers and GDP of over $17 trillion, said VASEP General Secretary Truong Dinh Hoe at the Vietnam-EU FTA conference held in Ho Chi Minh city.
Seafood is one of the five main items exported to the EU with annual revenue of over $1.1 billion. To make this happen, Vietnam's fishery industry is pushing to meet importers' requirements, such as hygiene standards. In 2012, Vietnam's seafood industry earned $1.13 billion from seafood exports to the EU, representing 18.5% of the country's total seafood exports, VietNamNet Bridge reports.
The country runs 567 industrial seafood processing plants, which can meet international food safety and hygiene standards (HACCP, GMP and SSOP). There are over 400 freezing factories that yield 7,500 tons of seafood per day and 415 processing plants that have been granted EU codes, compared to only 17 in 1999.
More than 100 pangasius farms with an area of 2,805 ha, or 40% of the countrys pangasius farming area, have been awarded certificates for sustainability. Around 50 pangasius processors, or half of the total, have obtained the Global Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certificate. Moreover, eight companies have gained Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification for both their processing plants and farms and 14 companies have received Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certificates for sustainable fish farming.
