With their agility in exploring and diversifying markets, enterprises would continue to expand exports, it said.

It forecast shrimp export to top 980 million USD in Q2, a year-on-year increase of 10 percent, and pangasius and marine product exports to increase by 7 percent and 9.6 percent to 712 million USD and 816 million USD.

Seafood exports fell significantly in the first two months of the year due to a disruption in the supply chain, especially logistics, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Processing seafood products at a enterprise in Can Tho. (Photo: nhandan.com.vn)

But they recovered in March to rise to 2.39 billion USD in the first four months, an increase of 6 percent from a year ago, as enterprises made efforts to adapt to the changes caused by the pandemic and capitalised on free trade agreements to push exports, the association said.

Truong Dinh Hoe, VASEP's general secretary, said the EU-Vietnam FTA had greatly boosted exports of seafood products to the EU.

The UK-Vietnam FTA, which would take over when the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement expires for the UK, opened up opportunities for Vietnamese seafood firms to promote exports to a market that used to account for a third of its total shipments to the erstwhile bloc of 28 countries, he added.

Nguyen Hoai Nam, VASEP deputy general secretary, said demand from major import markets such as the US, Japan and China would continue to increase.

The US market would continue to be a bright spot for many Vietnamese seafood products such as shrimp, pangasius and others, he said. Vietnamese exporters would have more opportunities to export to the US since India, the largest shrimp supplier to the market, was facing production difficulties due to the pandemic, he added.

Ho Quoc Luc, Chairman of Sao Ta Food JSC, said global demand for shrimp usually increased by 5 percent a year whereas output in major producing countries would not increase this year.

"Shrimp prices might increase slightly this year. Vietnam’s shrimp exports might go up by 5-7 percent."

Hoe said: "Covid-19 has changed consumption habits globally, with people eating at home more frequently and tending to eat more seafood products, especially shrimp. The trend is expected to continue for the next few years."

To further increase exports, the seafood sector must find ways to reduce costs to become competitive, he added.

Though there are good signs in the market, exports will still be affected by high transport and input costs, according to the association.

Besides, businesses must realise that the fight against Covid-19 will continue to be an important task in 2021, and have plans to store raw materials.

In the context of high input costs in aquaculture, Tran Dinh Luan, director of the General Department of Fisheries, said the seafood sector would continue to promote linkages in production to enable firms to get good quality of inputs at reasonable prices and enhance the use of technology to increase productivity, reduce costs and protect the environment./.

BTA