(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In the context of Vietnamese tuna exports to major EU importer fell, exports to Greece have grown impressively. By the end of July 2019, Vietnamese tuna exports to Greece increased by 104% over the same period in 2018, reaching nearly US$1.8 million.
Greece is currently imports a large of canned processed tuna from Vietnam. According to statistics of Vietnam Customs, export value of Vietnamese canned tuna to Greece accounted for over 94% of the total export value of Vietnamese tuna to this market.
Greek canned tuna imports are also recovering after a decline in 2017, the volume of canned tuna imported into this market decreased from 6,934 tons in 2016 to 6,061 tons in 2017. In 2018, Greek canned tuna imports have recovered and rose by 7% compared to 2017, reaching 6,511 tons. And this trend continues in 2019.
The supply of canned tuna for the Greek market was largely from intra-regional countries, accounting for 58% of total tuna imports of the country. In particular, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain were the three largest suppliers.
In 2018, Italy's canned tuna exports to Greece decreased by 15% in volume. However, the country continued to maintain its leading position among intra-regional suppliers, with a market share of 33%. The Greeks favour Italian canned tuna products offered by the premium brand Rio Mare.
However, since 2016, the demand for high quality canned tuna products has been decreasing. The reason is that the tuna price of Italy increased sharply. In 2018, the price of canned tuna in Italy increased by 8% compared to 2017 and 37% higher than in Spain. However, the volume of canned tuna imported from Spain was still significantly lower than that of previous years.
While reducing canned tuna imports from Italy, imports from the Netherlands to Greece increased by 50% in 2018, although the price of canned tuna in the Netherlands in 2018 rose by 4% compared to 2017.
Contrary to the trend of imports from intra-regional countries, supply from Asian countries tended to increase. Asian tuna processors provided 2,712 tons of canned tuna in 2018, an increase of 21% compared to 2017. Of which, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and Turkey were the four largest suppliers.
Although canned tuna products exported to Greece are subject to a high tax of 24%, Thai canned producers remained at the top of the canned tuna suppliers for this market, accounting for 16% market share by volume. Followed by the Philippines at 9% and Vietnam at 4%.
Globally, Greece is also a tuna processing country. North Aegean Sea Canneries SA was the largest tuna producer of the Greece that owning the Trata brand. The company usually imports steamed tuna filets/loin, caught near the equator from a selected supplier, who meets their stringent quality requirements.