ASEAN boosted imports of live/fresh/frozen squid from Vietnam

After the reduction of imports in January 2017, ASEAN continuously increased imports of Vietnam cephalopod from February to the end of 2017. According to the statistics from Vietnam Customs, Vietnam’s cephalopod exports to ASEAN in 2017 valued at US$71.5 million, up 39% over the same period of 2016.

In 2018, ASEAN ranked the third in top importers of Vietnam cephalopod. Exports of this item to ASEAN continue to go up. As of January 15^th 2018, Vietnam’s cephalopod sales to ASEAN reached US$3.6 million, up 86.8% over the same period in 2017.

In 2017, ASEAN countries tended to boost imports of squid from Vietnam. The export value of Vietnam squid to this market accounted for 97.3% of Vietnam’s cephalopod exports to the bloc; that of octopus products made up 2.7%. Among the products exported to ASEAN, dried/grilled/ready-to-eat dried squid products were most popular in this market.

Out of Vietnam’s total cephalopod exports to ASEAN in 2017, the export value of live/fresh/frozen squid (HS code 03) increased by 346% compared to 2016. Shipments of the remaining items rose by 25-71% except for other processed squid (HS code 16) with a 13.5% decrease.

Thailand is the main importing market of Vietnam cephalopod in ASEAN, taking up the proportion of 72% of total cephalopod into ASEAN. Recently, the country boosted imports of this item from Vietnam. In particular, cephalopod imports into Thailand from Vietnam in 2017 were worth by US$51.6 million, up 24% compared with 2016. In the first half of January 2018, the figure was over US$3 million, an increase 95% compared with the same period of 2017.

According to ITC statistics, Thailand was currently the biggest importer of cephalopod from all over the world in ASEAN. Cephalopod imports into the country in 2017 accounted for 66% of total imports into ASEAN with the value of US$84.2 million. However, this figure decreased by 77% over the same period. Vietnam and China were the two major suppliers to Thailand. While the country increased imports from Vietnam, Thailand strongly reduced those from China.

Imports of frozen squid (HS code 030749) made up the highest value in ASEAN; followed by processed squid (HS code 160554), processed octopus (HS code 160555) and fresh/chilled/chilled squid (HS code 030741). Imports of frozen squid showed the highest share of 71% in total import value of cephalopod into ASEAN, the remaining products accounted for about 10%. In cephalopod products imported into the region, processed squid (HS code 160554) were the only item with the year-on-year rise in imports of nearly 23% in 2017.