(seafood.vasep.com.vn) According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, in the first 8 months of this year, Vietnam cephalopod exports valued at US$259.68 million, down 6% compared to the same period in 2015.
Vietnam’s cephalopod shipments to China - Hong Kong and ASEAN posted the declines of 28.9% and 12.5%, with the value of US$10.4 million and US$31.8 million, respectively. Meanwhile, exports to Australia and Israel showed the rises of 26.7% to US$2.9 million and 25.4% to US$2.8 million, respectively.
In Aug 2016, Vietnam cephalopod exports reached US$41.1 million, up 1.7% compared to Aug 2015. South Korea, Japan and the EU remained top 3 largest importing market of Vietnam. Of those, exports to South Korea touched US$16.1 million, up 10% and those to Japan gained US$10.6 million, up 12%. Besides, exports to the EU reported a slight decrease of 1% to US$5.7 million.
Italy and Spain continued to stay as 2 biggest buyers of Vietnam cephalopod in the EU. Also, exports to Belgium surged in July and August 2016 that put the country rank the 3rd in the bloc.
In August 2016, shipments to Italy reached US$3.1 million, down 14.6%, the figure in Jan-Aug 2016 estimated at US$22.4 million, down 1%. In the month, exports to Belgium hit US$499 thousand, up 130%; the figure in Jan-Aug 2016 estimated at US$2.2 million, up 50%. Exports to Spain totaled US$670 thousand, up 7.1%; the figure in Jan-Aug 2016 estimated at US$3.5 million, up 7.4%. The import price of frozen octopus into Spain tended to increase from early this year. Accordingly, the average price of this item into Spain ranged from US$6 - 7.5 per kilo. This price was higher over the same period in the last 2 years. However, the average import price of frozen Gahi squid (Patagonian) into Span tended to decrease from the beginning this year but still higher than the same period in the last 2 years.
In the first 8 months of this year, Vietnam squid exports amounted to US$148.8 million, picking up 57.3% of the total cephalopod exports. In particular, exports of live/fresh/frozen squid (HS code 03) took up the largest proportion with the value of US$84.3 million; those of dried/grilled squid (HS code 03) hit US$55.8 million. Exports of processed squid reached the lowest value of US$8.6 million.
Besides, Vietnam octopus exports in the period, accounting for 42.7%, gained US$110.8 million. In which, exports of dried/salt/live/fresh/frozen octopus (HS code 03) valued at US$87.1 million and those of processed octopus (HS code 16) achieved US$23.6 million.
Written by Ngoc Thuy
Compiled by Dieu Thuy