Vietnam's seafood export turnovers are estimated at roughly 3.1 billion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of this year, a year-on-year rise of 25 percent, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers said on Friday.

The biggest importers of seafood include China, Japan, the United States, the European Union and Russia, the association said.

Vietnam is boosting exports of different seafood items, including shrimps and prawns, to the traditional markets, and some new ones such as the Middle East, East Europe, Africa and South America.

It is also focusing on increasing quality of the products, intensifying trade promotion, and enhancing its capacity of forecasting seafood prices and export demand.

Vietnam earned 2.7 billion dollars from shipping seafood abroad last year, up 14.2 percent over the previous year, said the association.

Vietnam has planned to raise its aquaculture acreage to 1.1 million hectares with output of nearly 2.1 million tons in 2010 from expected 980,000 hectares with output of roughly 1.5 million tons in 2006, the association said.

Source: Xinhua