VN seafood wins plaudits at Seoul expo

Enhancing agro-seafood trade with South Korea was the subject of a seminar held at an international food industry fair in Seoul which ended last Saturday.

Twenty Vietnamese businesses showed their products which made a good impression, Agriculture and Rural Development Deputy Minister Diep Kinh Tan said.

Vietnamese agro-forestry and fisheries sector were meeting food hygiene and quality requirements to turn out a range of high-quality products which were in high demand, he added.

A number of quality management programmes, including hazard analysis in farm and seafood processing, had given them a further edge, he said.

Even South Korea’s Food and Drug Administration officials themselves had said Vietnamese farm and seafood products were of better quality than other Southeast Asian countries, Tan said.

Viet Nam exports mainly seafood, coffee and sliced cassava along with coal and crude oil to South Korea.

Customs statistics showed South Korea’s largest volume of seafood imported last year was from Viet Nam, worth US$232.9 million.

Up to 99 per cent of the frozen shrimp turnover from ASEAN into South Korea during 2007-09 was from Viet Nam.

The nation’s revenues from coffee beans and sliced cassava exports to South Korea last year hit $63.6 million and $35.3 million, respectively.

Viet Nam had advantages in quality and pricing in the South Korean market, the deputy minister said. However, technology needed to be upgraded to improve quality and reduce prices even further to maintain market share.

He said Viet Nam was negotiating to export rice and dragon fruit, among other products, to South Korea. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam Seafood, Vietnam seafood exports