(VOV) – Over the past seven months, the nation’s seafood export turnover has skyrocketed 24.5% to US$4.2 billion on-year with the US, EU, Japan, Republic of Korea and China remaining the leading import markets of Vietnamese seafood.
- Seafood exports encounter numerous barriers
- Shrimp, prawn demand lifts seafood exports
- Seafood exports reach US$3.45 billion in first half
Not only carving out a niche in key export markets, Vietnamese seafood has established a solid foothold in the global export market, further evidenced by higher that average annual growth rates than most other markets.
In recent years, the seafood industry has made every effort to improve the quality of aquatic products towards gradually shifting from price competition to compete in quality.
Grasping key markets
According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP), shrimp product has a dominant role to play in stimulating seafood exports Especially white-leg shrimp exports to the US and the RoK have posted double even treble digit growth.
In the first half of this year alone, white-leg shrimp exports rose 133% to US$1.06 billion, bringing total shrimp export revenues to nearly US$1.8 billion (up 62%), accounting for 49.5% of seafood export value. Meanwhile, shrimp output doubled from last year’s same period in which white leg shrimp output soared by 400%.
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Directorate of Fisheries Deputy Head Nguyen Huy Dien has attributed the good performance of shrimp exports to stable raw material sources and efforts to keep epidemics under control.
Prawns are still a dominant export item of Vietnam compared to other products as the country is now seen as the largest producer of black tiger shrimp in the world with stable output. High prices of tiger shrimp in the global market, particularly in Japan have helped tiger shrimp exports maintain strong growth and the Japanese market as the top market for this product with a high growth rate of 3%.
In addition to shrimp, squid, octopus, crabs and other crustaceans also experiencing relatively high growth (14-21%) thanks growing import demand.
On the market structure, the US remains the top export market of Vietnamese seafood, accounting for 23% of total exports and this market tends to import more Vietnamese shrimp products. Seafood exports to this lucrative market are forecast to rise 37% over the same period in 2013.
Besides, the EU continues to be the second largest market for Vietnamese seafood imports, constituting nearly 18% of total export turnover. According to VASEP, Vietnam is fully able to expand EU markets because of high shrimp export growth.
Along with black tiger shrimp, white leg shrimp exports have increased dramatically in the EU market, making Vietnam become the third largest shrimp supplier after India and Ecuador.
The Republic of Korea, ASEAN and Australia are also considered potential markets for Vietnamese seafood exports. Typically, the Korean market has regained fourth place among individual seafood importers from Vietnam with a high growth rate (51%) after being relegated in 2013.
The RoK is also Vietnam’s largest squid octopus import market, making up 40% of total octopus export value.
With the higher growth of Vietnamese seafood products in tandem with growing global market demand, VASEP predicts that seafood exports will pick up in the third quarter to meet demand for year-end festive months.
Seafood export turnover is set to reach US$2.1 billion including US$1.2 billion from shrimp, 25% higher than the comparable period last year.
Shifting from price competition to quality competition
Đăng ký: VietNam News