(vasep.com.vn) In 2013, exports of processed tuna products hit US$233 million, rising 22 percent and making up 48 percent of the country’s total tuna exports. While exports of dried/frozen/live/fresh tuna products hit US$257 million, down 22 percent with the proportion of 52 percent.
Tuna production downed 15 percent year-on-year to 13 thousand MT in 2013 due to unfavorable weather conditions, high fuel cost for offshore fishing. Some fishing vessels suffered from losses due to low raw tuna price caused by its low quality.
Vietnam tuna exports in 2013 reported a year-on-year reduction although the number of importers of Vietnam tuna increased by 16 ones to 112 ones. In Q.IV/2013, Vietnam tuna sales hit US$112 million, down 16 percent year-on-year. The cumulative figure to the end of 2013 was US$526 million, down 7.2 percent.
The U.S., Japan, ASEAN, Israel, Tunisia, Canada and Mexico were leading importers of Vietnam tuna. They made up 86 percent of Vietnam’s total tuna exports.
Tuna shipment in 2013 saw a downfall mainly due to reduction in tuna exports to 3 leading markets (the U.S., Japan and ASEAN). Out of Vietnam’s total tuna exports, the proportion of tuna exports to the U.S., Japan downed 7 percent, 1.5 percent, respectively but proportion of exported tuna to EU up 4 percent.
The U.S.: Tuna exports to the market in 2013 gained US$187.4 million, down 23.4 percent year-on-year. Sales of dried/frozen/live/fresh tuna to the market downed 35 percent to US$95.68 million while sales of processed tuna downed 6.1 percent to US$ 91.7 million.
EU: Vietnam tuna sales to the block in 2013 hit US$140.7 million, up 24.4 percent year-on-year. In QIV/2013, exports of the item to 3 leading importers among EU block (Germany, Italy and Spain) saw a downfall.
In 2013, exporting processed tuna products to EU rose 81 percent with turnover of US$73 million while the country downed 7.4 percent in selling dried/frozen/live/fresh tuna to the market with earnings of US$67.9 million.
Japan: Vietnam tuna sales to the market in 2013 reached only US$42 million, down 22.1 percent year-on-year. Shipment of processed tuna to the market posted a year-on-year growth of 11 percent with revenue of US$6.6 million. However, the increase failed to offset the reduction of 26 percent in exporting dried/frozen/live/fresh tuna to the market with earnings of US$35.3 million.
ASEAN: In the first half of 2013, Vietnam tuna sales to ASEAN reported a great growth, however in late 2013, sales to the market were on downward trend. As the result, tuna exports in 2013 to the market downed 3.6 percent to US$35.5 million. In the year, ASEAN raised importing other processed tuna products from Vietnam with year-over-year growth of 9 percent. But, ASEAN’s imports of dried/frozen/live/fresh tuna (ext. tuna HS code 0304); tuna HS code 0304 (ext. fish cake and surimi) and canned tuna from Vietnam downed 16 percent, 2.5 percent and 48 percent, respectively.
Vietnam’s tuna industry in 2013 faced many bottlenecks which are high tuna inventory from main markets, lack of raw tuna, stricter requirements from importer markets. To ensure raw material for processing, domestic tuna processors must source raw tuna from other countries, however, they faced hiking import duty and complicated import procedures.
In 2014, Vietnam’s total tuna exports are expected to hit US$550 million, only up 4 percent year-on-year.