The country's export of seafood products in the first quarter of this year would likely decrease by 13 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (Vacep).

In a report issued Wednesday, Vacep said that Vietnam is expected to earn roughly $1.15 billion from seafood exports in Q.1, lower than $1.32 billion during the same period last year. Vacep's forecast is based on the declining seafood production and processing in the first two months of the year, with the key products as tra fish and shrimps.

In January, the export value of tra fish reached $120 million, down 20 percent year on year, and is estimated at only $230 million to $250 million in the first quarter, down 40 percent compared to the same period last year.

In the southern Mekong delta provinces, prices of tra fish are fluctuating, reaching about 19,000 to 21,000 VND ($0.91-1) per kilogram. Total output of tra fish in the first quarter is expected to be around 1 million tons to 1.5 million tons, down 30 percent to 50 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, demands from major markets, such as the EU, the United States, ASEAN, Mexico and Brazil, are also decreasing. Shrimp exports also witnessed difficulties so far this year when 30 percent out of the total 300 shrimp export businesses had to stop operations due to a shortage of capital, high input investment and tough competitions for product quality.

The remaining 70 percent of businesses are working with only half of their designed capacity.

Insiders said that domestic shrimp producers are facing four major difficulties, namely the early mortality syndrome (EMS) among shrimps, tough competitiveness in purchasing raw materials, a decreasing consumption, and the strict technical barrier about the ethoxyquin level.

In this context, Vacep estimated that shrimp export value for the whole year 2013 would reach about $1.9 to 2.1 billion, lower than $2.25 billion in 2012.

Specifically shrimp output in the first quarter may fall 20 percent to 30 percent, resulting in the export value of about $360 million, down 18 percent to 20 percent year on year. Normally, shrimps account for 36 percent to 38 percent of the country's total seafood export value.

So, with an expected increase of 15 percent to 20 percent, total export value of the Vietnamese seafood in the first quarter this year may reach $520 million.

Last year, Vietnam pocketed $6.15 billion from seafood exports, an increase of 0.7 percent year on year, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.