Seafood exports are forecast to grow by 8-10 percent per year, withannual export value to grow from a current level of about 5 billion USDto 6.5-6.7 billion USD by 2015 and 8 billion USD by 2020, said DeputyMinister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam.

The US, EU and Japan would continue to be the three primary exportmarkets for the nation's seafood, accounting for 60-65 percent of totalexports.

To meet the targets, the industry would movebeyond its reliance on current key products like tra fish and shrimp anddevelop the export potential of other seafood products, including tuna,tilapia, shellfish and seaweed, Tam said.

Former deputyminister Nguyen Thi Hong Minh said that the seafood industry had beendeveloped and modernised to become more competitive but would need totake further steps to reach the ministry targets, including betterbalancing the supply of raw materials with the demand of seafoodprocessors.

Minh noted that a State-sponsored fund must beestablished to promote Vietnamese seafood in a number of countries,with exporters required to contribute to the fund.

Itwould make the seafood industry better prepared to respond to suchchallenges as the Word Wildlife Fund's listing of tra fish in its "RedBook" of endangered species.

At that time, Vietnamfailed to mount a strong campaign to protest the listing, Minh said,succeeding only in holding conferences that disseminated information toauthorities and enterprises.

In the first five months ofthis year, the nation's seafood exports totalled 2.1 billion USD, anincrease of 27.3 percent over the same period a year ago, according toministry figures./.