Vietnam to boost frozen squid exports to the UK

Currently, the UK is the 7th largest cephalopod importing market in the EU, after Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Greece and Germany. After the peak in 2010, imports decreased and hovered at 9,500MT/year.

The UK is the second largest economy in the EU after Germany, with relatively high income per capita. Seafood such as tuna, cod, salmon, haddock, shrimp is popular.

Squid frozen/dried/salted or in brine (HS 030749) was the major imported item, making up for over 67% of total imports, followed by processed squid (HS 160554) with 16% and octopus frozen/dried/salted or in brine (HS 030 759) with 14.2%.

Consumption trend has been changing these years. In 2010, about 90.2% of total seafood imports were frozen squid, which now accounted for only 67%. This leaves spaces for increase in imports processed squid and frozen octopus.

Like in other EU markets, consumers in the UK are dependent on supplies from Africa or Mexico. Not until recently have they eyed on suppliers from  Asia such as Thailand, India, China, Vietnam or Indonesia. This is a golden opportunity Vietnamese companies.