(vasep.com.vn) Surimi exports in February 2015 worth US$ 14.2 million, up 22.4% year on year but down 45.3% month on month. Cumulative surimi exports in 2015 reached over US$ 40 million, up 14.1% year on year. This year, surimi exports from Vietnam to major markets grew well, except for EU and Taiwan. Exports to top 8 markets accounted for 98.6% of total exports from Vietnam, down from 96.9% of last year. Russia and China were markets with strongest growth, at 68.2% and 40.7%, respectively. Meanwhile South Korea, ASEAN and Japan are top surimi export markets.
In the first 2 months of 2015, total surimi exports of Vietnam to ASEAN increased, growth slowed down in single markets. Specifically, exports to Singapore, the second largest import market, valued at US$ 2 million down by 13.3% over the same period.
Exports to Russia, the most notable in the top eight markets, continued to increase US$ 2.3 million, with growth rate of 68.2%. Russian companies started to import from Asian countries after the ban on seafood imports from western countries. With competitive in price in Southeast Asia and Europe, tropical surimi recovered its shares in markets and created opportunities for Vietnamese companies to strengthen export.
South Korea is the world’s second dominant surimi market. Surimi exports from Vietnam to this market have been continuously growing from late 2014. South Korea, accounting for over 33% of total exports from Vietnam, continued to be the most favorite destination for Vietnam surimi. In the first 2 months of this year, companies earned a total value of over US$ 13.3 million, up 22.4% year on year.
Surimi exports of Vietnam to Japan increased constantly during the first months of this year. Cumulative export value reached US$ 4.8 million, up 33.6% year on year. As inventory maintained at a low level, importers stock up despite the depreciation of the yen. Reportedly, over 100,000 MT of pollock surimi was imported in Japan from January to November 2014, up 22% year on year.
Exports to the US in two months of 2015 reached US$ 259 thousand, revealing an increase of 31.2%. Pollock surimi imports of the US in the first 11 months of 2014 reached 104,701 MT.
Since 2012, the surimi importers in Asia have been favored for Alaska pollock surimi in stead of tropical surimi. This trend is expected to reverse as price rises. Price of tropical surimi is lower with lower priced material and low transportation costs. Therefore, Vietnam surimi exports have been increasing recently.