(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Japan is the largest surimi consumer in the world, accounting for about 30% of the total surimi import value all over the globe. Import of surimi into Japan has been increasing continuously since 2017 and it is expected that Japan's surimi demand will remain high this year.
From 2014 to 2018, Japan's surimi imports ranged from US $ 486.3 million to US $ 559.2 million. In which the import value in 2017 was the lowest at US $ 486.3 million and that of reached the highest of US$559.2 million in 2014. After decreasing continuously from 2014 to 2017, the import value of surimi into this market increased continuously from 2017 to now.
Norway is the largest surimi supplier to Japan, accounting for 19.8% of the total import value of this item into Japan. Followed by three major suppliers (India, Thailand and China), accounting for 15.8%, 14.8% and 9.2% of market share, respectively. Vietnam is the fifth largest supplier, accounting for 8.5%.
In the first 7 months of this year, imports of surimi into Japan reached US$334.3 million, up 11.5% over the same period in 2018. Among the top 5 main suppliers, imports from Norway and Vietnam grew by 2 digits while imports from Thailand, India, China increased slightly.
The average import price of surimi into Japan was US $ 3.8/kg in June 2019, higher than the previous two years due to high demand from the US and the EU. Japanese surimi processors are facing difficulties due to rising import prices, escalating logistics and labor costs. It is expected that in the last months of this year, surimi demand of Japan will continue to increase.
Japan was the fourth largest surimi importer of Vietnam, accounting for 11.8% of Vietnam's total export value of Vietnamese surimi to markets. In the first 7 months of 2019, Vietnamese surimi exports to Japan were not stable, the export value of this item to Japan slid in February, June and July while sharply increasing in January, Marh, April and May.
In July 2019, Vietnamese surimi exports to Japan reached US$ 1.9 million, down 44.8%. In the first 7 months of this year, the export value reached US$ 21.6 million, up 5.5% over the same period in 2018.
As of July 2019, Vietnamese surimi exports to Japan were not stable due to the high input costs for domestic production. Therefore, the export price of Vietnamese surimi products was still higher than the similar products of other competitors in Japanese market such as China, Thailand ...