(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam cephalopod exports to Japan in Jan-May 2019 reached US$61.3 million, up 11.3% over the same period in 2018. Particularly in May 2019, exports to Japan reached US$15.2 million, up 16.5%. Japan still maintains Vietnam's second largest cephalopod importer, accounting for 25.5% of Vietnam's total cephalopod export value to markets.
The proportion of Vietnam's octopus exports to Japan is nearly equivalent to those of squid. In the structure of Vietnam's octopus and squid exported to Japan, fresh/frozen squid(HS 03) accounted for the highest proportion.
According to ITC statistics, in the first 4 months of 2019, Japan cephalopod imports reached US$116.7 million, up 17.2% over the same period in 2018. In particular, cuttlefish and processed products were most imported, accounting for 77% of import value.
In the first 4 months of 2019, Japan increased imports of processed squid products with over US$90 million, up 21% compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, imports of processed octopus dropped by 6% to over US$23 million, accounting for nearly 20% of total imports of cephalopod. Frozen squid products accounted for only 2.8% of total imports, although Japan tended to increase imports of this product with an increase of 884%.
Main imported products of Japan was processed squid. Vietnam was among the top 4 largest suppliers, after China, Peru and Thailand; followed by Vietnam were South Korea and Spain. China accounted for a dominant proportion in this segment with 88% of Japanese import value, Vietnam only accounted for less than 2%. In the first 4 months of 2019, Japan increased sharply its import of processed squid from China and Peru, and Thailand, while reducing imports from Vietnam, Korea and Spain.
Processed squid products from Thailand and Spain exported to Japan are priced at an average of US $ 21-31/kg, significantly higher than other suppliers (US $ 4.8-6.8 / kg). Along with Thailand and Spain, Vietnam's average import price also increased from US$4.8 in January 2019 to US$5.7 /kg in April 2019, while import price from other suppliers all are reduced.
Vietnam's main cephalopod products exported to Japan in the first months of this year included various products such as frozen whole squid, squid sliced cut, frozen fillet squid, frozen cuttlefish, cuttlefish pine cut, frozen cuttlefish comb cut, processed cuttlefish, sushi squid, breaded octopus ...
The CPTPP Agreement was officially in effect from January 14, 2019. Vietnamese cephalopod exports to Japan in the near future are expected to benefit from preferential tariffs of this Agreement.