In the first 5 months of 2021, Vietnam's marine product exports increased by 16% to US$1.32 billion, accounting for 40% of the country's total seafood export turnover. In May alone, exports of marine products increased by 26% to $292 million.
Vietnam's marine product exports increase by 26% in May 2021
Of the total export value of marine products in the first 5 months of 2021, marine fish products accounted for 75% (tuna accounted for 22%, other fish accounted for 53%). Products of cephalopods and bivalve molluscs account for 20%, the rest are crabs and other crustaceans.
Compared to the same period in 2020, Vietnam's exports of seafood product groups increased in the first 5 months of this year. Notably, exports of cephalopods reached USD 216 million, up 13%; bivalve molluscs reached $48 million, up 44%.
In terms of structure, processed mollusk products, such as dried/baked squid, other processed squid, processed bivalve products, etc., have been Vietnam's mainstays in the past 5 months.
Exports to main markets continue to increase
Excluding tuna, the 5 largest import markets for other marine products of Vietnam include: CPTPP accounted for 26%, South Korea accounted for 11%, the US accounted for 8%, China accounted for 7% and the EU accounted for 5%. Compared to the same period in 2020, Vietnam's exports of other marine products to these 5 markets all increased over the same period, CPTPP increased by 7%, South Korea increased by 6%, the US increased by 55%, China increased by 2%. and the EU increased by 31%.
In the CPTPP market, Japan is the largest import market and also the largest single market for Vietnam's seafood imports, accounting for 20%, reaching 298 million USD. Over the same period, the export value of marine products to this market only increased slightly by 1%. For squid and octopus, Japan is also the second largest single market. However, compared to the same period, Vietnam's cephalopod exports to this country decreased by 9%.
Exports to South Korea, the largest export market of Vietnam's cephalopods, continued to grow in May. The export value of Vietnam's marine products to this market in the first five months of the year reached more than 157 million USD, of which nearly 89 million USD comes from cephalopod exports.
After Korea is the US market with the import value of marine products from Vietnam reaching more than 113 million USD. In the past 3 months, the expansion of vaccination against Covid-19 and the economic stimulus package of the US Government have been the driving force for the recovery of seafood consumption demand, not only in the food service and restaurant hotel segments, but also in the retail segment. This is creating favorable conditions for marine product enterprises to promote exports to this market. Notably, exports of squid and octopus to this market are growing at a high rate. Particularly in May, Vietnam's octopus exports to the US are increasing at a "galloping" rate of 538% over the same period of 2020.