HANOI, Dec. 3 -- China ranked the fourth place among 156 markets for Vietnamese seafood in the first 10 months of 2013, after the United States, EU and Japan, said Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) on Tuesday.

According to VASEP, Vietnam exported some 462 million U.S. dollars worth of seafood products to China during the period, an increase of 37 percent year-on-year, of which shrimp exports were up nearly 50 percent to 310 million U.S. dollar, accounting for 67 percent of Vietnam's seafood exports to China.

In October alone, shrimp exports to China almost doubled over the same period last year. The market sometimes surpassed the European market on shrimp export value, according to the association.

The ratio of shrimp exports to China are 3.6 percent of processed shrimp to 96.3 percent of frozen raw shrimp, while the ratio of Vietnamese shrimp exports to other markets are 31 percent to 69 percent, said VASEP.

In the first 10 months of 2013, Vietnam exported 5.5 billion U. S. dollars of seafood products, an increase of 7.3 percent year-on- year, said the association.