(pangasius-vietnam.com) In September 2013, the EU has passed the U.S. to be Vietnam’s biggest pangasius importer. If the region keeps the current growth in imports from Vietnam in the coming months, it will regain the first position among Vietnam’s pangasius buyers.
In September 2013, Vietnam exported US$30.6 million of pangasius products to the EU, up 3.4 percent against that of September 2012. This was the second time that pangasius got growth in sales to the market. Though the growth rate remained low, this was still a recovery sign from the EU market after consecutive months reporting drop.
Year-to-date European imports of Vietnamese pangasius had the worth of US$284.8 million, decreasing 11.2 percent from the same period of last year.
So far this year, the U.S. has remained the leading pangasius importer of Vietnam with value of US$289.03 million, up 2.2 percent from the corresponding time of 2012, representing 22.7 percent of Vietnam total fish exports. Compared to a year ago, U.S. imports of pangasius from Vietnam in September 2013 downed 8.9 percent to US$25.9 million, seeing the fourth consecutive month of drop in fish purchase.
Among eight key markets, Brazil reported the highest growth in imports in the three quarters of 2013. Brazilian pangasius purchase reached US$79.4 million, up nearly 70 percent from 2012. September’s imports valued at US$10.4 million, up 60.2 percent.
As there has been no recovery in the EU and the U.S. pangasius markets, many Vietnam exporters are switching their products to Brazil. However, they are seeing some weakening price for pangasius compared to the previous year. Prices of other imported whitemeat fish species in this market such as frozen cod fillets and frozen Alaska pollock fillets have also been on the downward trend.
According to Vietnam Customs, exported pangasius brought back US$137.8 million in September, down 9 percent from the previous month but up 0.1 percent compared to a year ago. Year-to-date export value was US$1.27 billion, down 1.4 percent from 2012.