HANOI, March 7 (Xinhua) -- 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 on Thursday.

In February alone, the country's seafood exports raked in 350 million U.S. dollars, down 12.6 percent against the same period last year. Its main markets included the United States, Japan, South Korea and China.

Vietnam will strive to make seafood export turnovers of 10 billion U.S. dollars this year, the ministry said. Meanwhile, it will raise aquaculture output by 3.6 percent to over 4.3 million tons, and improve seafood quality by further applying modern technologies.