HANOI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam’s export of tuna to China surged by 771 percent in the first two months of this year, making the market the fifth largest importer of Vietnamese tuna after the United States, the European Union, Israel and the ASEAN, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Between January and February, Vietnam’s exports to China accounted for 94 percent of the country’s total tuna export value, the VASEP said, predicting that Vietnam’s export of the seafood, including new fresh and frozen tuna products, to China will continue to rise in 2019, Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday quoting the VASEP.

Because frozen tuna fillets from Vietnam and other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are exempted from tax in the Chinese market, Vietnam became the leading provider of frozen tuna fillets to the market with over 65 percent of the market share last year.

According to the VASEP’s vice chairwoman Nguyen Thi Thu Sac, Vietnam’s total tuna exports are forecast to top 1 billion U.S. dollars this year, 350 million U.S. dollars higher than last year.

Vietnam earned nearly 1.1 billion U.S. dollars from exporting seafood, mainly prawns and catfish in the first two months of this year, posting a year-on-year increase of 2.3 percent, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The country has targeted seafood export turnovers of 10 billion U.S. dollars in 2019.