Canada wishes to boost lobster export to Vietnam
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyễn Xuân Cường met with Canada’s Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay to discuss Canada’s “Safe food for growth” project in Việt Nam on February 27.
MacAulay said that Canada would soon provide Việt Nam with about CAD15 million (US$11.3 million) for “Safe food for growth” project. MacAulay expressed his wish to push lobster exports from Canada into Việt Nam and to soon have Canadian blueberries exported to the Vietnamese market. Furthermore, being a strong global pork exporter, Canada also hopes to cooperate with Việt Nam on pig genetic research.
Cường said that Việt Nam also encouraged the import of high-quality pig breeds, as well as the introduction of Canadian lobsters to Vietnamese lobster farms to provide for its domestic needs and the import needs of other markets.
Currently, Việt Nam is Canada’s top trade partner among the 10 ASEAN members. As of 2016, Vietnamese export value to Canada was $2.65 billion, while the import value stood at $389.9 million. Agricultural products and seafood play a key role in bilateral trade.
Key agricultural exports from Canada to Việt Nam include seafood, flour, soybean, beef, pork, fruit and cattle feed. Some products have experienced exceptionally high growth in 2016, such as fresh lobster, fish and wheat.
Ha Anh
