(seafood.vasep.com.vn) As of the first half of July 2019, the total value of pangasius exports to Belgium reached US$12.9 million, up 34.3% over the same period in 2018. Belgium was the fourth largest importer of Vietnam pangasius in the EU region. Compared to some potential markets of Vietnam pangasius in Asia such as Hong Kong or Malaysia, the export value of pangasius to this market was only by a half, however, in the first 6 months, pangasius exports to Belgium have been growing steadily.
Currently, Vietnam is the largest supplier of whitefish to Belgian market through two main ports, namely Antwerpen and Zeebrugge. Up to now, most of pangasius products exported to this market were frozen fillets pangasius (HS 030462) with an average export price of US$1.9 - US$4.93/kg. In particular, the group of frozen pangasius block products with the size of 90-140gr priced from US$1.85- US$2/kg. In addition to frozen pangasius products, Vietnam also exported processed pangasius products (HS 1604) to this market, in which the most prominent item was pangasius fillets roll (HS 16042099) with the average export price of US$6.5 - US$6.7/kg.
In the first half of this year, about 5 Vietnamese pangasius enterprises participated in exports to Belgium market, which concentrated in Dong Thap, Can Tho, An Giang and Tien Giang.
According to the latest statistics of ITC, in the first 4 months of 2019, Vietnam was the largest whitefish supplier for the Belgian market, accounting for 25-37% of total white fish imports of this country. In addition to importing pangasius from Vietnam, Belgium also imported other whitefish products such as tilapia imports from China and internal imports of some frozen/chilled cod products from the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, France.
Belgium's white fish imports in the first 4 months of this year increased by about 9.8% compared to the same period in 2018, of which frozen pangasius products (HS 030462) group increased sharply, more than 105% compared to the same period in 2018; Imports of frozen pangasius products (HS code 030324) also went up by more than 16% compared to the same period in 2018.
It can be said that in the first half of 2019, Belgium was a stable importer of Vietnamese pangasius, with a quite good import price compared to other markets in the region. In the coming time, it is expected that pangasius exports to this market can achieve higher growth.