HANOI, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam exported 145 million U.S. dollars worth of tra fish (pangasius) to China in the first four months of this year, up 43 percent on-year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

With the turnovers, China surpassed the United States to become Vietnam's largest tra fish importer in the four-month period, VASEP said on Friday, adding that Vietnam is currently the third largest provider of white fish for China, after Russia and Norway.

VASEP considered China a key market for tra fish export this year and forecast its demand for Vietnamese tra fish will expand in the second quarter of 2018.

In 2017, Vietnam exported more than 410 million U.S. dollars worth of tra fish to China, up 34.8 percent against 2016 and accounting for 23 percent of the country's total tra fish exports.

Due to high anti-dumping duties and technical barriers recently imposed by the United States and the European Union, Vietnam's formerly largest importers of tra fish, turnovers in these markets significantly went down, said the association.

According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the country's tra fish output hit 1.2 million tons in 2017, up 5.1 percent on-year, while its export turnovers were nearly 1.8 billion U.S. dollars, up 4.3 percent against 2016, accounting for 21 percent of the fishery industry's total export value.

Vietnam plans to gain tra fish export turnovers of 2.2 billion U.S. dollars this year, making up 31.5 percent of the fishery industry's total export value.