A seafood processing factory in the central province of Quảng Ngãi. Vietnamese exporters are urged to foster seafood shipments to Switzerland. — VNA/VNS Photo Đinh Hương

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese businesses should make greater efforts to tap the potential of seafood exports to Switzerland, a trade official said.

Nguyễn Đức Thương, Commercial Counsellor at Việt Nam Trade Office in Switzerland, said that as a landlocked country, Switzerland had to import almost all of its seafood.

Each year, the Swiss market consumes about 75,000-80,000 tonnes of seafood and Việt Nam is the fourth largest seafood provider for Switzerland, after Norway, France and the Netherlands, Thương told baochinhphu.vn.

He said Switzerland's import demand for seafood products would likely increase by 4.6 per cent this year, with the consumption trend gradually moving towards organic products.

Therefore, Vietnamese businesses needed to foster their investments in processing seafood products and exporting organic products to capture this consumption opportunity, and at the same time enhance links with existing partners.

According to the Việt Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, enterprises that intend to promote export to this market need to pay attention to product quality issues as Switzerland requires very high-quality products with a very strict import licensing regime to ensure health, food hygiene and safety standards.

All food sold in Switzerland has to comply with European and Swiss food labelling regulations. Consumers in this country are very interested in eco-labels and are willing to pay extra if the product meets health and environmental requirements.

Besides, Switzerland attaches great importance to the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) standard and has for many years been the country with the largest consumption of MSC-labelled seafood products in the world.

Demand for seafood with MSC certification is increasing. There are many companies trading whitefish, salmon, herring and tuna in Switzerland that have obtained COC (chain of safety certification) and used the MSC label on their seafood products.

Over the past nine months of 2023, two-way trade between Việt Nam and Switzerland saw a modest increase of 2 per cent to over US$1.85 billion. Of the total, over $1.42 billion came from Vietnamese exports, down 2 per cent year-on-year.