HANOI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam earned nearly 3.6 billion U.S. dollars from exporting prawns and shrimps in 2018, down 7.8 percent against 2017, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers said on Thursday.

Last year, Vietnam gained nearly 840 million dollars from exporting prawns and shrimps to the European Union (EU), down 2.8 percent, and roughly 640 million dollars from exporting the products to the United States, down 3.3 percent.

Vietnam plans to make prawn and shrimp export turnovers of over 4 billion dollars in 2019, the association said, noting that its biggest markets include the EU, the United States, China and Japan.

Vietnam reaped over 8.8 billion dollars from exporting seafood, mainly prawns and catfish last year, posting a year-on-year increase of 6.3 percent, its Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced in January.

In the coming time, Vietnamese firms will continue to face difficulties in exporting seafood to the EU and the United States which currently impose strict control over seafood imports, according to the local experts.