HANOI - Vietnamese experts said under the current growth, there lies a possibility that China will replace the United States to become Vietnam's largest catfish importer in 2017.

In the first 10 months of 2016, China spent $235.5 million on buying Vietnamese catfish, up 76.1 percent year-on-year, accounting for 16.9 percent of Vietnam's catfish export revenue, local Vietnam Economic Times quoted Vietnam Customs as saying on Tuesday.

The forecast was made in the context that Vietnam's catfish exports to its biggest consumer of US has been facing difficulties as the US is imposing technical barriers in its catfish inspection program and high anti-dumping tax against Vietnamese catfish. The situation will become even tougher in 2017, warned local experts.

In the 10-month period, the US imported nearly $320 million worth of Vietnamese catfish, up 22.7 percent year-on-year, making up 23 percent of total Vietnam's export revenue of the item.

From January to October, Vietnam earned around $1.4 billion from exporting catfish, up 6.4 percent year-on-year. Top four major markets of Vietnamese catfish included the US, China, the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).