A shrimp processing plant in Kiên Giang Province. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Việt Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has said that seafood exports to Europe have seen many positive signs since the EU-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) came into effect at the beginning of this month.

The number of orders in the European market alone since the beginning of this month has increased by about 10 per cent compared to last month, specifically, for shrimp and squid.

Online newspaper VietQ reported that Trần Văn Lĩnh, chairman of the board of directors of Thuận Phước Seafoods and Trading Corporation, said the company had exported 3,000 tonnes of shrimp and products made from shrimp to EU with a value of about US$31 million, a year-on-year increase of 8 per cent in volume and 6 per cent in value respectively over the same period last year.

Nguyễn Thị Ánh, director of Ngọc Xuân Seafood Corporation, shared EU customers had started negotiating orders with the corporation again recently.

Although it had not increased strongly, this was a positive signal for businesses to recover after a long delay and contract cancellation, said Ánh.

Assessing the initial results since the EVFTA's implementation, Trương Đình Hòe, secretary-general of VASEP, said the association expected the EVFTA would help seafood exports grow by about 20 per cent in the EU, however, in the current pandemic context, an increase of 10 per cent was encouraging.

Regarding future prospects in the EU, Hòe said the growth rate could not be fully forecast as European countries were still facing the pandemic.

As for the issue of removing the yellow card for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, localities are implementing many measures to combat illegal fishing, while enhancing the control and supervision of the installation of monitoring equipment on fishing cruises and having strict sanctions for violations of the use of positioning equipment.

The EVFTA took effect from August 1 and many key products of Việt Nam will benefit from this agreement.

Việt Nam has advantages in producing and exporting agricultural, forestry and aquatic products while the EU has a great demand for these items with import value accounting for 8.4 per cent of the region's total annual import value.

Therefore, room for growth in exports to the EU remains huge. Vietnamese businesses can access a huge seafood consumption market with an average consumption of 22.03 kilogrammes per person, 5.34 kilogrammes higher than the world average. — VNS