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Vietnamese scallop products have been exported to 20 markets worldwide, with the US, Denmark, and Japan representing the three largest scallop export markets.

Of the figure, the total export turnover of scallops to the US throughout the reviewed period reached more than US$11 million, representing a 131-fold rise against the same period from last year, while scallop exports to Japan also skyrocketed by 12% on-year.

The VASEP pointed out that since China moved to issue a ban on Japanese seafood, Japan has continuously moved to diversify its scallop export markets.

According to details given by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Vietnam has had numerous seafood processing factories, which in turn have made Japanese enterprises select Vietnam as a processing location in order to export aquatic products to both the US and ASEAN member states.

Since the beginning of the year, Japanese seafood enterprises have begun piloting the processing of Hokkaido scallops in Vietnam.

The VASEP revealed that a Japanese enterprise shipped about 20 tonnes of scallops to the country for processing and then exported them back to Japan to sale them to restaurants and retailers. This is also one of the main factors for a sharp rise in Vietnamese scallop exports to the demanding market.