(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In the first three months of this year, Vietnam's exports of crabs showed the recovery, with the value of US$24.7 million, up 12.6% over the same period last year.
As of Mar 2016, Vietnam crabs were sold to 30 countries around the world, adding more markets compared to QI/2015.
Top 10 leading markets importing crabs from Vietnam included the U.S., the EU, Japan, China, ASEAN, Australia, Taiwan and Canada, accounting for 97% of total crab export value of Vietnam in QI/2016. There is now a change in the export proportion to the main importers. Crab exports to most of markets posted significant drop while China still showed the high growth. Accordingly, crab exports to China reached the proportion of 13.2% in QI/2016 (compared with nearly 4% in QI/2015).
The U.S.
In the first three months of 2016, Vietnamese crab exporters to the market earned a total revenue of US$10.5 million, up nearly 7% over QI/2015.
In the early 2016, the U.S. remained to be the largest crab importer of Vietnam, making up 42.5% of the total export value.
The EU
In QI/2016, Vietnam exports of crabs to the EU hit nearly US$4.5 million, down 11.5% compared to the same period in 2015. Crab exports to this market made up 18% of total export value, down from 23% of QI/2015.
France, the U.K, the Netherlands and Belgium continued to be the top 4 biggest crab importing markets from Vietnam in the bloc. In particular, exports to France made up 44%; followed by the UK with over 28.5%; the Netherlands with 25%; and Belgium with nearly 2% of the total crab export value to the EU.
The sales to the Netherlands posted a year-on-year rise, while those to France, the UK and Belgium showed the falls.
Japan
Vietnam's crab exports to Japan in the early 2016 registered the good growth. The export value achieved more than US$3.6 million, up 7.5% over the same period last year. Japan continued to rank the 3rd in the top 10 largest markets importing crabs from Vietnam.
In the coming time, crab catch by some countries expected to remain at the high level; however, it is mostly small crabs. Demand for seafood from main markets expected to be stable which will facilitate the crab exports. Vietnam crab export value is forecast to report a slight growth. Demand from the EU will be still low.
Written by Nguyen Ha
Compiled by Dieu Thuy