(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Q.IV/2018, Pangasius export revenue to ASEAN markets reached US$57 million, up 35.6% compared to the same period in 2017. In 2018, the export turnover of pangasius to this market reached US$202.6 million, up 41.5% for which the 3 largest single export markets were: Thailand increased by 48.8%; Singapore increased by 20.7% and the Philippines increased by 32.1%.
ASEAN was still the fourth largest importer of Vietnamese pangasius after the US, China and EU.
The export revenue of Pangasius to Thailand in 2018 reached US$76 million. This was the largest export market of Vietnamese pangasius in the ASEAN region, accounting for 36.8% of total exports.
According to ITC statistics, in the first 10 months of 2018, Thailand was Vietnam’s largest market of white fish of which the main imported product was frozen pangasius (HS 030462) with the average import value from between US$4.4 to US$6.9 million/month and import volume from 2,000 to 3,750 tonnes/ month. In addition to Vietnamese pangasius products, Thailand also imported some other white fish products such as Alaska fish (HS 030494) from the US and Alaska pollock fish (HS 030367) from Russia. Until this time, importing frozen pangasius to Thai Lan is still quite stable.
In addition to Thailand, Pangasius export to Singapore and Philippines markets in 2018 also achieved high growth with export revenue reaching US$42.3 million and US$37.4 million respectively.
In the first 9 months in 2018, Singapore imported Pangasius mainly from Vietnam, followed by China and Malaysia. In addition to frozen fillet pangasius product, Singapore also imported frozen pollock Alaska fish products (HS 030475) from China and frozen tilapia (HS 030461) from Indonesia. In 2018, the demand for pangasius from Singapore and the Philippines was stable and grew at double digits. These were positive signs for Vietnamese Pangasius exports in ASEAN.
Currently, in addition to China, Indonesia also intends to increase production and expand Pangasius farming scale to target the Middle East market and some markets in the ASEAN region due to high demand in these two areas.
It is forecast that in 2019, the demand for Pangasius to ASEAN countries especially Thailand, Philippines and Singapore market will continue to grow steadily. This is an opportunity for Pangasius export enterprises to continue to increase export proportion to this market.