In December, trade value of fishery products was estimated at 714 million USD, taking the total value of Vietnam’s seafood export in 2017 at 8.32 billion USD, up 18% compared to the previous year’s figure. The US, Japan, China and Korea are the top 4 import markets of Vietnam’s seafood, accounting for 55.3% of export value for fishery products. Markets with the fastest growing rate in exporting seafood are China (64.4%), Netherlands (48.6%), England (36.4%), Korea (29.1%), Canada (22.3%) and Japan (20%).
In 2017, Vietnam’s seafood export reached the all time high of 8.3 billion USD.
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According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the main products exported are shrimp with growth rate over 21% and trade value of 3.8 billion USD, and pangasius with 1.8 billion USD, up nearly 4% compared to 2016.
Total export value of tuna, octopus and cuttlefish are expected to reach 600 million USD, a year on year rise of 16% and 42% respectively. Notably, China has overtaken the US as the top import market of Vietnam for shrimp and pangasius. With the growth rate of 37% in 2017 and import value of 420 million USD, China continues to be the top import market for pangasius, ahd the third biggest import market for shrimp after European Union (EU) and Japan with 670 million USD, up more than 60% compared to 2016.
In order to increase shrimp export from Vietnam to EU market, representative of VASEP said, enterprises have to understand the preferential custom tariff and rule of origins stipulated in the Vietnam – EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), which will be effective in 2018. Besides, enterprises have to ensure the compliance to requirements and verification procedures of EU, as well as procedures for packaging and label. As the EVFTA is near approaching, enterprises should consider taking effort in innovating, improving capabilities and product quality in their strategies ahead new challenges and opportunities.
On the other hand, EU customers will more and more in favor of sustainable produced seafood products in both retailing channels and food & beverage services. As such, enterprises should pay attention to the packing and label for product verification, which is one of the main factor to access this market.
VASEP forecasted China to be a high potential market for Vietnam’s seafood companies in the coming time, especially when seafood export to EU and the US is under pressure from technical barriers to trade and anti dumping duties. With the target of shrimp export value reaching 10 billion USD in 2025, total export value of Vietnam’s seafood is expected to continue growing, thanks to flexible export to other major markets such as China, Japan and Korea.
It is expected that the export value of fishery products in 2018 to reach over 8.5 billion USD, a slight increase of approx. 3% compared to 2017.
