Tra fish fillets packed for export at Sao Mai Group. There is significant room to expand tra fish export to the UAE, given this market’s rising income and rapid urbanisation. (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam’s tra fish export to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reached more than 7 million USD in the first quarter of this year, a rise of 67% against the same period last year, statistics of the General Department of Customs showed.

Tra fish export to the UAE increased impressively in January by 2.5 times to reach 4 million USD before a slowdown of 31% in February.

In March, Vietnam exported tra fish to this market worth more than 2 million USD.

The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers said the UAE mainly exported frozen fillets from Vietnam, accounting for around 93% of the country’s tra fish export to this market.

The UAE is a net importer of seafood products and around 90% of all food consumed in the UAE is imported.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the UAE consumes around 220,000 tonnes of seafood products each year with a per capita consumption volume of 28.6 kilos, higher than the global average.

The association said that there is significant room to expand tra fish export to the UAE, given this market’s rising income and rapid urbanisation. The UAE Central Bank has lifted its forecast for the UAE economic growth rate to 5.7% from 4.3%.

Each year, Vietnam exports about 22,000-24,000 tonnes of seafood products to the UAE, worth around 50-70 million USD.

Frozen tra fish fillet is the most popular export product of Vietnam to the UAE.

Vietnam’s tra fish export was estimated at 1.8 billion USD in 2023 and expected to reach 2 billion USD this year./.