Impressive growth
In 2007, seafood export of Vietnam to Middle East sharply increased in volume and values over 2006. 3 items reached the highest growth, out of them, frozen pangasius products were the most consumed with a growth of 159% in volume and values; followed by frozen shrimp and canned tuna...
Notably, frozen octopus export reached significant growth, rising from 1 MT in 2006 to 70 MT worth US$188,000 in 2007. Growing consumption of seafood in the region in late months of the year prompted seafood export of Vietnamese enterprises.
According to Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, pangasius is increasingly popular due to its low cholesterol content. As a result, import of this product into Middle East has remarkably risen. Abundant domestic supply of pangasius, stable price and high demand are favorable conditions to boost export to this region.
3 major markets
Lacking advantages in fisheries industry, domestic supply in UAE satisfies only 25% of its demand, remaining 75% rely on import (including Vietnamese seafood). Due to popularity in many markets, especially in EU, the US and Japan, Vietnamese seafood is easily accepted in this market, particularly for frozen pangasius.
However, live and fresh seafood export to this market are facing the biggest obstacles because there’s no direct airline from Vietnam to this country. Meanwhile, lower-valued products such as frozen and canned products, which are exported to this market by airlines has resulted in high cost and low profit. To promote seafood export to UAE, Vietnamese enterprises need the support from National Trade Promotion Fund to enhance their marketing skills so as to seek bigger contracts to reduce their freight cost.
Next to UAE is Lebanon with population of only over 3.5 million but consumes relatively high volume of seafood. In 2007, seafood export of Vietnam to this market is estimated to rise 26% in volume and 37% in values; frozen pangasius export increased by 118% in volume and 121% in values.
Taking the third position is Israel, who import various seafood items from Vietnam, among of which frozen pangasius reached the highest growth, an increase of 108% in volume and 203% in values. However, export to Israel in 2007 has dropped due to decrease in export of many other products.
Seafood export to the other markets in this region, such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan gained fair growth in volume and values with major proportion of froze pangasius.