(pangasius-vietnam.com) In the first 4 months of 2012, pangasius exports attained US$569 million, up 9.2 percent over that of the same period of 2011.
Despite remaining positive growth, this year growth was lower than 23 percent of 2011. Fish exports to key markets, in particular EU and the U.S. (accounting for the proportion of nearly 50 percent of Vietnam pangasius exports) were not as positive as that of 2011. In Jan- Apr 2012, fish shipment to EU reached US$152 million, down 13.8 percent over that of Jan- Apr 2011 while in the period last year, fish exports was still up 2 percent compared to 2010. The decline this year was attributable to European economic turmoil.
European economies are being hurt by the worst debt crisis in many recent decades. Spain, Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Italy are going in to unprecedented deep recession and their economic outlook is not bright in the near future.
Importers in EU have been decreasing to import pangasius from Vietnam because regional banks are cautious about business loans. This situation is expected to last until the end of this year because the analysts of Citi Group Corp. forecast Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland will continue to be downgraded credit rating this year. Moody’s has slashed most of banks’ credit rating in euro area.
Spain is the largest pangasius importer in EU block. In months of 2011, fish exports to the country kept falling but in Jan – Apr 2012, fish exports to the country reported positive but modest growth.
At this time, fish shipment to Spain achieved US$33 million, up 6.3 percent over that of Jan – Apr 2011. The increase was attributable to its low inventories of imported pangasius while cod import from Russia in Spain and EU in general decreased as Russia stocked up the fish for domestic consumption.
In Jan - Apr 2012, pangasius exports to the U.S. touched US$113 million, up 41.8 percent from that of the same period of 2011 while in Jan – Apr 2011, fish exports rose by 98 percent over 2010. Fish delivery to Asian markets, South America remained positive growth but lower than that of the same period of 2011.
Despite advance in pangasius export value, fish sector still copes with a lot of bottlenecks such as credit tightening, enterprises lost control of input costs due to high inflation and fluctuated raw material source. If the situation is not improved, fish exports 2012 is only equal to that of 2011 and earnings from fish exports is narrowed significantly.