Cephalopod exports to the EU decreases

The largest cephalopod importer in EU, Italy, saw a significant decline in importing. According to Vietnam Customs, from January to April, 15^th 2015, exports cephalopod from Vietnam to Italia worth US$ 7.02 million, down 39% compared to the same period of 2014.

Germany is now the largest cephalopod importing market in EU, with import value reaching US$ 1.43 million in the first four months of 2015, up 36.9% over the same period last year. The runner-up is the Netherlands, with US$ 0.955 million, up 14.6% year-on-year. Among top 3 cephalopod importing markets in the EU, Italy was the only market witnessed cephalopod import decline in the first months of this year.

Most of cephalopod imported by the EU was frozen squid. The EU spent US$ 1.2 billion importing this item. Meanwhile, frozen octopus imports valued at US$ 812 million.

Morocco is a leading frozen octopus exporter to the EU market, with the value of US$ 267.88 million in 2014, up 11.58% compared with 2013. In 2014, Vietnam was listed in EU’s top 10 frozen octopus (code HS 030759) exporting markets, maintaining its position in 2013. According to the International Trade Centre (ITC), in 2014, Vietnam exported US$ 17.71 million of frozen octopus to EU, up 66.97% compared with 2013.

Meanwhile, Vietnam was the 8^th-largest frozen squid (code HS 030749) exporter to the EU. The biggest was Spain. Cephalopod exports from Vietnam to the EU in the first months of 2015 is likely to maintain its developments as of in 2014.