(seafood.vasep.com.vn) South Korea was Vietnam's largest importer for squid and octopus, accounting for 42.5% of the total export value of this item of Vietnam to markets.
In the second quarter of 2020, cephalopod exports to Korea continued to decrease, but the rate of reduction was lower than that of the first quarter. In the second quarter of 2020, the export value of squid and octopus to South Korea reached US$57.6 million, down 1.9% compared to the second quarter of 2019. In particular, in June 2020, exports to Korea grew positively after 3 consecutive months of decline. Vietnam's squid and octopus exports to Korea increased by 23.5% in June 2020, but due to a decrease in the previous months, the export of squid and octopus to this market still decreased by 15% in the first 6 months of 2020 reached over US$102 million.
The decrease in export prices and demand for consumption due to the Covid-19 epidemic was one of the factors affecting the export of Vietnamese octopus and squid to South Korea in the first half of 2020. In the second quarter of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic in South Korea was less stressful than the first quarter, so the export of squid and octopus to this market avoids further decline.
In the structure of Vietnamese cephalopod products exported to Korea, octopus still dominated with 69.1%, squid made up for 30.9%. In the first half of 2020, the export of squid to South Korea rose by 4.6% while that of octopus fell by 21.6%. Smoked, dried squid (HS03 code) recorded an increase of 13.3%, the best growth among squid and octopus products exported to Korea. Processed squid exports to Korea also increased slightly by 1%. While the export value of processed octopus and dried/salted/live/fresh/frozen octopus decreased by 24% and 22% respectively over the same period in 2019.
South Korea mainly imports squid and octopus products from Vietnam such as peeled dried squid, frozen processed squid, frozen sushi squid, frozen cleaned cuttlefish, frozen pine cut cuttlefish, and frozen cleaned whole octopus, frozen cut octopus, frozen processed octopus ... In the first 6 months of 2020, prices of squid products exported from Vietnam to Korea ranged from US$9.7 to US$13.9/kg, that of octopus ranged from US$6 - US$6.4/kg.
Currently, Vietnam enjoys an export tax of 0% to Korea for live/fresh/ and frozen octopus products (HS030751 and HS030759). Dried/salted/live/fresh/frozen octopus also accounted for the highest proportion of the total squid and octopus products exported to Korea.
According to ITC data, in the first half of 2020, South Korea imported squid and octopus from 9 suppliers with an import value of over US$126 million, down 13% over the same period in 2019. China was the largest supplier of squid and octopus to South Korea. Among the main suppliers, South Korea increased imports of squid and octopus from Indonesia and India, imports from the remaining suppliers declined.