(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In May 2020, Vietnamese cephalopod exports reached nearly US$ 42 million, down nearly 25% compared to May 2019. In the first 5 months of the year, cephalopod exports reached nearly US$192 million, down 21.2% over the same period in 2019. The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic reduced demand and production materials. Therefore, Vietnamese cephalopod exports in the first 5 months of 2020 continued to decline.
Of the total structure of Vietnamese cephalopod, squid accounted for 54.9%, octopus made up for 45.1%.
South Korea was still the largest importer of Vietnamese cephalopod, accounting for 42.6% of the total export value of this item of Vietnam to markets. Vietnamese cephalopod exports to South Korea decreased by 16.9% in May 2020 and fell by 21.2% in the first 5 months of 2020 to nearly US$ 82 million.
Japan ranked second in Vietnamese cephalopod imports, accounting for 25%. Vietnamese cephalopod exports to Japan in the first 5 months of 2020 reached over US$48 million, down 21.7% compared to the same period in 2019.
Vietnamese cephalopod exports to the EU in the first 5 months of this year reached US$ 13.5 million, down 49% compared to the same period in 2019. Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands were the largest importers for Vietnamese squid and octopus. As of May 2020, the export of squid and octopus to Italy, Germany and the Netherlands declined by 57%, 27%, and 38% respectively.
China was the fifth importer of Vietnamese cephalopod, accounting for 7.2% of the proportion. Cephalopod exports to China in May 2020 shot up by nearly 171% to US$ 5.7 million. In the first 5 months of the year, the export of cephalopod to China reached US$ 13.7 million, up nearly 38% over the same period of 2019. China was the only market to sharply increase imports of cephalopod from Vietnam in May and the first 5 months of 2020.
Vietnamese cephalopod exports to China fell in the first two months of this year, then recovered again in March, April and May. From March this year, the COVID-19 epidemic in China was under control. Besides, other countries such as the US, EU, and Japan gradually loosed their quarantine measures, thus the demand for squid and octopus of China has recovered.
China mainly imports from Vietnam such as frozen whole cleaned cuttlefish, frozen classified squid, frozen Tempura breaded squid, dried squid, frozen cut octopus, frozen whole cleaned octopus ...
In the context the Covid-19 epidemic has not been controlled worldwide, the supply of raw materials has decreased, the world's demand for imported squid and octopus and Vietnam's squid and octopus exports is expected to decrease.