Vietnam cephalopod exports to the Netherlands rocketed

In May 2017, Vietnam’s cephalopod exports to the Netherlands reached US$0.5 million, an increase of 388% over May 2016. Thanks to the strong growth in May, the figure in Jan-May 2017 amounted to US$2.8 million, up 345% year on year. With this growth, the Netherlands was the market with the highest growth rate out of top 9 leading buyers of Vietnam cephalopod in Jan-May this year.

Frozen raw squid (HS code 030749) is the main product imported into the Netherlands. The market imports raw cephalopod for processing and re-exporting to other countries in the EU. The import demand for this item of the EU countries in early this year was on the upward trend. Therefore, Vietnam’s cephalopod exports to the Netherlands in the first 5 months of this year increased sharply.

According to the International Trade Centre (ITC), in 2016, the Netherlands imported 6,908 MT of cephalopod from countries in the world, worth by US$27.6 million; equal in volume and up 9% in value compared to 2015. Vietnam ranked the 5^th (with a market share of 7.6%) in top largest suppliers to the country, behind China, India, the U.S and Thailand.

In the market, Vietnam cephalopod has to compete with China’s and India’s on price. In 2016, the average import price of cephalopod into the Netherlands quoted at US$3.99/kg. Of that, the price from Vietnam was US$3.99/kg while that from China and India was US$3.6/kg and US$3.7/kg, respectively.

In QI/2017, cephalopod imports into the Netherlands hit US$1.2 million; a decrease of 75.7% over the same period of 2016. In the period, Vietnam rose to the 1^st rank in top leading suppliers of cephalopod to the Netherlands.