(seafood.vasep.com.vn) From 2008 - 2018, Vietnam seafood exports to Russia increased from 28 million USD in 2008 to 47.4 million USD in 2018. The export value of Vietnamese seafood to Russia in this period was not stable.
Vietnamese seafood products exported to Russia include tuna, crab, swimming crab, frozen cephalopod, surimi and some other frozen marine fish (sturgeon, flounder, herring and frozen and chilled sardines), fish in the form of whole fish/fillet, mollusks in the form of live, fresh, chilled, frozen ...
Vietnam Free Trade Agreement - Eurasian Economic Union was signed on May 29 2015, and took effect from October 5, 2016. This is the first FTA of EAEU. In the EAEU, Vietnam mainly exports seafood to Russia while exports to other countries are not significant.
According to the commitment of EAEU to seafood imports from Vietnam, the rate of tax reduction is 100%, of which 95% of the tax rate is completely eliminated with a 10-year roadmap. 75% of the tax rate is eliminated immediately after the Agreement comes into effect.
According to EAEU's commitment to Vietnam's seafood products exported to this region, the products of tuna HS code 030487 get tax reduction from 10% to 0% immediately after the Agreement comes into effect, crab products ( HS 030614) reduced from 10% to 0%, surimi (HS 030499) decreased from 10% to 0%, processed cephalopod products (HS 160552, 160553, 160554, 160555, 160556) decreased from 15% to 0%, cephalopod products (HS 0307) decline according to the roadmap and down to about 1.7% in 2019. Seafood exports to the Russian market is still growing after this FTA takes effect. However, Vietnamese enterprises still expect a more stable market.
Russian fishing is declining while consumption demand tends to increase, especially for whole/fillets marine fish, fish processed into surimi. Therefore, this is also an opportunity for seafood export of Vietnam.
Seafood exports to Russia in the first 3 months of 2019 showed positive signs with a turnover of 14.9 million, up 19% compared to the same period in 2018.
In order to promote exports to Russia, enterprises need to focus on ensuring prestige and product quality in exports to this market, studying the connection with trade centers of overseas Vietnamese in Russia to enhance introduction and promote Vietnamese products directly to consumers.
Currently, seafood exports to Russia accounted for a very low market share, not commensurate with the export potential of Vietnam. Therefore, with the incentives from FTA VN-EAEU, it is expected that Vietnam seafood exports to Russia will maintain a stable growth rate.