(pangasius-vietnam.com) Over the recent years, Middle East is highlighting to be a potential market for seafood products, while other importing markets showed quiet signs in demand.
The Middle East includes 16 countries (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Turkey, UAE, Syria, Yemen and Egypt). With a surface of 7 million square meters, the region is home to 380 million of people and possesses various natural resources. It is a high-demand market for imported products, some of which are listed as key export items of Vietnam. Therefore, Vietnamese companies will have opportunities to boost trade with Middle East.
According to Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade, in 2012, Vietnam seafood exports to Middle East reached over US$4 billion, of which seafood products brought back US$193 million. Referring to statistics from Vietnamese Customs, pangasius sales to this destination was around US$185.9 million, representing 63 percent of total earnings from seafood exports. Saudi Arabia was the leading importer in the region, followed by Egypt. Only 5 out of 16 countries reported an annual import value of over US$10 million.
Middle East countries’ typical weather conditions are not appropriate to produce agricultural products, including seafood; therefore, they have a very high demand for shrimp, pangasius, canned tuna, sardine, canned mackerel and dried fish products.
According to International Trade Centre (ITC), in 2011 fish imports (HS03) into some Middle East countries got higher growth than that recorded in 2010. Saudi Arabia purchased US$310.1 million of seafood products, up 33 percent; Palestine with US$11.3 million, up 50 percent; Iran with US$75.8, up 31 percent... Middle East’s fish imports decreased due to current civil war in some countries, which made foreign exporters hesitant to send products to these markets.
Vietnamese seafood and, in particular, pangasius products have initially had position and prestige in the Middle East markets. Exports to some countries reported year-on-year growth.
Vietnam was listed in the top five suppliers, in the frozen fish fillet segment, in some Middle East countries. It ranked the fourth in Israel with an export value of US$13.2 million in 2012, up 95 percent over that of 2011. Over the years, Vietnam was Lebanon’s leading partner with a proportion of 75 percent in the country’ total pangasius purchase. In 2012, Vietnam sold US$10.8 million of fish products to this destination, down 17.8 percent on that of 2011. In Turkey, Vietnam ranked the third among frozen fish fillet suppliers within the four recent years. In 2012, exports to this country reached US$5.3 million, up 14% from 2011. It is important to note that Vietnam’s shares in Turkey’s frozen fish fillet segment increased considerably from 2 percent in 2008 to 20 percent in 2012.