Vietnamese seafood exporters seen benefiting from trade links with China

HANOI, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's seafood exports have shown promising signs of making a recovery following China's optimization of its COVID-19 response, Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday.

Vietnam's seafood exports to China in February climbed 33 percent to 122 million U.S. dollars from a year ago, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

China became Vietnam's second-largest market of seafood exports last year, growing 63 percent year-on-year, which outpaced the 23-percent annual growth of the whole industry, said VASEP deputy general secretary Nguyen Hoai Nam.

The rapid change of China's COVID strategy is brightening the outlook for Vietnamese seafood exporters, who are betting on the huge demand of the world's second-largest economy, he added.

The pandemic has disrupted several supply chains, leading to disconnection between Vietnamese businesses and their Chinese partners, said Tran Thanh Nam, deputy minister of agricultural and rural development, adding that measures to reconnect supply chains and facilitate bilateral trade are underway.

Vietnam's agricultural and fishery exports to China via Mong Cai International Border Gate have grown around 60 percent year over year, said Tran Thi Bich Ngoc, head of the border gate's management board, urging local businesses to embrace novel production technologies and well-organized management to keep their products up to standard.

Vietnam's seafood exports amounted to 1.1 billion dollars in the first two months, down 26 percent from the same period last year, as the demand from major markets including the United States and Europe has not shown recovery signs, VASEP said.