Vietnam is the leading exporter of pangasius to Mexico

According to the statistics of International Trade Center, seafood imports in to Mexico in 2000 was just US$100 million. Then, the U.S. was the leading seafood exporter to the market, China ranked the fifth, Vietnam ranked the 25th among 54 seafood suppliers for Mexico, mainly shrimp with modest export volume. After ten years, Vietnam emerged to the second after China in aspect of seafood export to the market, surpassing Chile, Norway, Guatemala, the U.S. with key export item of frozen pangasius fillet.

In 2010, seafood import value from Vietnam was US$78.08 million, making up 19.5 percent in the total seafood imports into Mexico. According to statistics, Mexico outstripped Russia, Brazil to become the third largest Vietnam pangasius importer after the U.S. and Spain.

Before 2006, Vietnam pangasius fillet was unpopular in Mexican but now the products were sold in most of big supermarkets in Mexico such as Walmart, Costco, Chedraui, Superama, Soriana. Mexico is the biggest consumer of Vietnam pangasius in Central and South America.

Mexico is paying attention to invest in domestic catfish farming. National Aquaculture and Fishing Commission of Mexico (CONAPESCA) showed that catfish production of the country rose from 2,503 MT in 2006 to 3,384 MT in 2010.

Mexico planned to strengthen catfish farming under sustainable development to boost its competitiveness in the domestic and international markets. In 2010, total harvested output of catfish reached 5,466 MT, up 5 percent against 2009 in which there were 3,384 MT of farmed fish and the other was wild-caught fish.