(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In the context of an effective Vietnam-EU Trade Agreement (EVFTA), shrimp is one of the seafood products benefiting from tariff preferences of this Agreement. However, joining the Agreement also poses many challenges for export enterprises.

Vietnamese shrimp giant Minh Phu Seafood is hoping its new shrimp farming technology, financially facilitated by Japanese Mitsui’s share purchase, will create a fundamental change in the shrimp aquaculture sector.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam will have more opportunities to boost shrimp exports to the EU after the Vietnam Free Trade Agreement with the European Union (EVFTA) takes effect.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In the first four months of 2019, Vietnam shrimp export value reached US$848.4 million, down 16.7% compared to the same period of 2018. In the context of shrimp export declined, trade preferences in the Free Trade Agreements becomes quite important. The Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP) took effect from the beginning of 2019. In addition to the challenges posed, there have been some certain positive impacts on Vietnam shrimp exports to other countries.

In the early July 2019, farmers in Hiep Thanh commune (Duyen Hai district, Tra Vinh province – one province in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam) are busying harvesting shrimp. They are very happy because this shrimp crop fetchs high yield.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) South Korea is fifth largest importer of Vietnamese shrimp. From 2008 to 2013, Vietnam shrimp exports to Korea ranged from US$85 million to US$225 million. After the Vietnam - Korea Free Trade Agreement (VKFTA) came into effect in 2015, from 2016 to 2018, Vietnam shrimp exports to South Korea increased from US$285 million to US$386 million. Thus, VKFTA has had positive impact on Vietnam shrimp exports in the past time.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Russia ranked 40th in Vietnamese shrimp imports, representing 0.3% of Vietnam's total shrimp export value to markets. Currently, Russia has just imported a little and tends to reduce shrimp imports from Vietnam. So, the Free Trade Agreement between the Economic Union of Vietnam and Eurasia (FTA VN-EAEU ) helps boost the export of Vietnamese shrimp to Russia?

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam shrimp exports to the UK have always achieved positive growth rates since 2012 as the UK has promoted importing warmwater shrimp as an affordable product that can replace coldwater shrimp. The price of coldwater shrimp is increasing due to the fact that the main supplying countries continuously cut their quotas which resulting in a drop in production. Sales of warmwater shrimp in British supermarkets and retail channels continued to increase while sales of coldwater shrimp decreased.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Japan maintained the second largest shrimp importer from Vietnam in the first 3 months of 2019, accounting for 19.7% of the total export value of Vietnam shrimp. In the first three months of this year, Japan was the only market among the major importers for Vietnamese shrimp that recorded positive growth. Vietnamese shrimp exports to Japan in recent years increased thanks to good demand and advantages from trade agreements between Vietnam and Japan.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Japan is the second largest importer of shrimp in the world, accounting for about 14% of the total value of imported shrimp worldwide in recent years. On average, Japan imports about $ 2.5 billion of shrimp every year. In 2018, imported shrimp to Japan reached US$2.35 billion, down 7.1% compared to 2017. Among the top 6 main shrimp suppliers to Japan, shrimp imports from Thailand and Indonesia increased slightly whereas imports from Vietnam, India, Argentina and China fell compared to 2017.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) South Korea ranked 5th in importing shrimp from Vietnam, accounting for 10.9% of total shrimp export value of Vietnam. In 2018, Vietnam shrimp exports to Korea reached US$385.8 million, up 1% compared to 2017. With stable demand, high export prices and tariff preferences through the Korea - Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement compared to its competitors, Vietnam still has many opportunities to boost shrimp exports to this market in 2019.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) The European Union (EU) was the largest market of Vietnamese shrimp in the first two months of 2019.

The US Department of Commerce (DoC) recently announced the preliminary results of the 13th Period of Review (POR 13), which reviewed the anti-dumping tariff on shrimp imports from Vietnam.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Nguyen Xuan Cuong has asked localities and enterprises to deploy measures to optimise opportunities for the shrimp sector to achieve the goal of 4.1-4.2 billion USD in export in 2019.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) The export of Vietnamese shrimps to Japan has shown signs of recovery this year, after a 9.2-percent decrease in 2018.