Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam exported 1.93 billion USD worth of shrimpduring January-August, down 8.1 percent from the same period last year,according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Directorate ofFisheries.

The pace of reduction in exports has slowed down due to positive export growthin July. Last month, shrimp export reached some 334 million USD, posting ayear-on-year increase of 13.4 percent.

The country saw good growth in exports to eight major markets like the EU,Japan, the US, mainland China, the Republic of Korea, Canada, Australia andChina’s Taiwan.

The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) expectedshrimp exports to grow further this year to a value of more than 4 billion USDthanks to robust signs in the market.

According to the association, the shrimp sector will make breakthroughs inexporting to 28 European Union countries, with estimated export value of 1billion USD, as it will enjoy low import tariffs once the EU-Vietnam Free TradeAgreement takes effect.

Another positive sign comes from the US market. Most recently, The USDepartment of Commerce (DOC) released the final results of the 13th period ofreview (POR 13), officially imposing zero percent tariffs on 31 Vietnameseshrimp exporters.

VASEP General Secretary Truong Dinh Hoe said the preliminary tariff wouldencourage local firms to promote shrimp shipments to the US in the comingmonths because they had faced many challenges in exporting this kind of seafoodto the American market, including anti-dumping tariffs.

A lower tariff will help Vietnamese shrimp competebetter with other foreign rivals, he said.

Giving his comments on shrimp shipments in the coming months, Hoe stresseddemands for shrimp normally increase in the end of the year, particularly,orders from the US have increased while the nation is reducing purchase fromIndia, Thailand and China.

Furthermore, India’s shrimp harvest season has ended, giving room for globalshrimp to surge.

The Directorate of Fisheries suggested local producers work to ensureproduct traceability and quality, while VASEP said that it is necessary topromote  exports of high-added valueproducts to avoid anti-dumping tariffs in foreign countries./.