Continuing the country’s positive momentum from the back end of 2018, Vietnam’s seafood production continue to grow in the first two months of 2019, reaching an estimated 988,300 metric tons (MT), up 4.6 percent year-on year, according to latest data from the General Statistics Office.
Of that total, the output from aquaculture in the period was estimated at 464,700 MT, up 3.9 percent, while wild-catch fisheries contributed an estimated 523,600 MT, 5.3 percent higher year-on-year.
In February alone, Vietnam’s seafood production rose 5 percent to an estimated 490,300 MT, including 360,300 MT of fish, up 5.5 percent year-on year; 43,600 MT of shrimp, up 0.9 percent; and 86,400 MT of other species, rising 4.9 percent, the data showed.
The output of pangasius, one of Vietnam’s core farmed species, increased 6.7 percent year-on year to an estimated 80,100 MT in February, with main production coming from Dong Thap Province, An Giang Province, and Can Tho City in Mekong Delta.
“The farming of pangasius was in good progress supported by high selling prices at between VND 28,500 (USD 1.23, EUR 1.08) and 30,000 (USD 1.29, EUR 1.14) per [kilogram],” the GSO said.
The production of giant tiger shrimp in February was estimated at 12,700 MT, down 1.5 percent from 2018, and the output of whiteleg shrimp stood at estimated 16,100 MT, up 3.9 percent.
Last year, Vietnam produced 7.74 million MT of seafood, up 7.2 percent from 2017, comprising 4.15 million MT from farming, up 8.3 percent, and 3.59 million MT from wild-catch fisheries, surging 6 percent year-on year, according to the General Department of Fisheries.
In 2019, the country plans to achieve seafood output of 8.08 million MT, up 4.2 percent year-on-year, including 4.38 million MT of farmed species – 5.6 percent higher than 2018 – and 3.7 million MT of wild-caught seafood, up 2.6 percent year-on-year.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has set forth the 2019 harvest volume target of 1.51 million MT of pangasius, up 6.6 percent from 2018. But Vietnam’s biggest pangasius processor and exporter, Vinh Hoan, has recently forecasted supply is likely to tighten towards the end of this year due to a shortage of fingerlings that has cropped up in the beginning of 2019.
Vietnam has set a target of reaping USD 10.5 billion (EUR 9.24 billion) from exports of its seafood products in 2019, up 19.5 percent from last year.
