Vietnam is looking to export frozen raw shrimps to Australia as the country has a great demand for this kind of product, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam.
In his interview granted to the press in Sydney on the occasion of his working visit to Australia from September 8-10, Tam said that the issue was discussed during his meeting with officials from the Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources.
Vietnam has so far shipped only processed shrimps to Australia, but not frozen raw ones. The country has been the largest supplier of processed shrimp products to Australia over the past five years.
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According to the Deputy Minister, the Australian side showed interest in importing Vietnamese frozen raw shrimps.
In the fourth quarter of 2016, a delegation of Australian experts will make a fact-finding tour to Vietnam to inspect whether Vietnam meets requirements in production in order to export raw shrimps to their country or not.
Deputy Minister Tam said he believes that Vietnam can meet all requirements of Australia as over the past time, the country has focused on investing in shrimp farming technologies, and paid attention to controlling diseases and improving the quality of young shrimps.
According to the Vietnamese Trade Office in Australia, Australia has a great demand for seafood, with the import turnover increasing from USD 868 million in 2011 to USD 1.6 billion in 2015.
Vietnam is the fourth biggest seafood provider for Australia, but accounting for only 11.2 percent of the market share.
In the past five years, Vietnam remains the largest supplier of processed shrimps to Australia. However, its export turnover in the market decreased by 25.6 percent last year, and by 16 percent in the first seven months of this year.
The meeting also looked at measures to remove hindrances to trading of agricultural products between the two countries, including Australian fruits and cattle.
Source: VNA