Vietnam is looking to increase its fisheries imports from Indonesia, a diplomat has said.

'€œWe imported US$8.90 million worth of seafood during the first four months of this year. This was almost half of the $17.32 million fisheries products that we imported from Indonesia during the same period in 2014,'€ Vietnam Embassy first secretary Trung Truong Xuan said during a half day seminar on Friday.

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, last year Indonesia exported $43.98 million worth of seafood to Vietnam.

The half-day seminar, which featured several prominent agricultural and aquatic companies from Vietnam, was organized by the Embassy of Vietnam and inaugurated by Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia Nguyen Xuan Thuy.

Vietnam, a country of 95 million people, could become a major market for Indonesia'€™s fisheries products.

'€œVietnam has been buying shrimp from Ecuador and India. Now Vietnam wants to buy our shrimp but we don'€™t have enough stock. Many shrimp farms closed down recently,'€ businessman Thomas Darmawan told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the seminar.

Besides shrimp, Vietnam is interested in buying seaweed, crabs and ornamental fish from Indonesia.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry director-general Saut Hutagalung said recently that during the first three months of this year, exports of fisheries dropped by 15 percent to $970 million.

According to Saut, the total fisheries export volume declined to 246,000 tons during the first quarter of 2015 from 263,624 tons during the same period in 2014. The value also declined to $970 million from $1.06 billion during the same time.

Last year, Indonesia'€™s total fisheries exports reached $4.63 billion, below the government'€™s target of $5.65 billion. (++++)

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