(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Exporting Vietnamese shrimp products to the UK has a tendency to increase as the UK promotes the import of warmwater shrimp thanks to affordable price compared with cold water shrimp.
As the main supplying countries continuously cut their quotas which results in a drop in production, the price of cold-water shrimp is increasing. Sales of warmwater shrimp in British supermarkets and retail channels continued to increase while sales of coldwater shrimp decreased. The value and volume of warm water shrimp products sold in the UK for household consumption has increased continuously over the past 3 years. Shrimp sales in 52 weeks ended on October 6, 2018, reaching 31.418 MTs, worth £446.4 million (equivalent to US$571.6 million).
The UK is the third largest importer of shrimp products in the EU after Spain and France. Unlike Spain (importing medium-sized shrimp for domestic consumption and export processing to intra-regional countries), the UK imports mainly shrimp for domestic consumption. In the last 4 years, the UK has been a considerable market of many Vietnamese shrimp exporting enterprises.
In the EU, the UK is the largest shrimp import market of Vietnam, accounting for nearly 36% of total shrimp exports of Vietnam to the EU and accounting for 6.8% of total Vietnam shrimp exports to all markets. In 2017, Vietnam shrimp export to the UK reached US$210.6 million, increasing by 55.5% compared to 2016. Accumulated to November 15, 2018, Vietnam shrimp export to the UK reached US$212.1 million, up by 16.4% over the same period last year.
From 2014 till now, the UK has always been in the top 2 positions in Vietnamese shrimp import markets. From 2014 to 2017, Vietnam shrimp exports to the UK continued to grow from US$114.6 million in 2014 to US$210.6 million in 2017, an increase of nearly 84%. As of November 15 this year, exporting Vietnam shrimp to the UK has reached US$212.1 million, higher than the export value of Vietnam shrimp to the UK in the whole year of 2017 (US$212.1 million).
Vietnam is the largest shrimp supply for the UK, accounting for 26.3% of total value of British shrimp imports, followed by India with 15.5%.
The UK is a remarkable market of Vietnamese shrimp exporters in the EU because exporting enterprises to this market are entitled to GSP tax incentives, similar to the general provisions in exporting to the EU. Processed shrimp products originating from Vietnam in the UK market have a higher advantage in price and quality compared to those of India and Bangladesh.
Because the UK is a highly competitive market from rival suppliers, businesses need to understand the market to make products suitable to consumers' tastes here. In order to succeed in the UK market, businesses need to provide products with good prices with consistent supplies and the ability to improve product development to keep up the tastes of people.