(vasep.com.vn) In 2012, shrimp imports into Vietnam was estimated at US$170 million including US$105 million of whiteleg shrimp and US$33 million of black tiger shrimp.
In the first half of 2012, raw shrimp supply saw serious shortage while shrimp demand from importers was still high. Besides, widespread epidemic on shrimp created instability to raw shrimp supply.
The price of domestic raw shrimp was skyrocketing due to high input costs (electricity, water, fuel, feed, labour). In the early June, in Thailand, the price of whiteleg shrimp count 60 pieces per kilogram at farm was VND80,000 per kilogram but in Vietnam, the shrimp price with the same count was quoted at VND100,000 – 120,000 per kilogram. Thailand shrimp count 70 pieces per kilogram was worth by VND75,000 per kilogram but Vietnam shrimp with the same size was quoted at VND90,000 – 95,000 per kilogram.
To meet orders from importers and create jobs for workers, processors imported raw shrimp to process for exports.
Vietnam imported shrimp from 27 suppliers, largely Thailand, Indonesia, India, Ecuador, Canada, Malaysia, Argentina, the U.K, Singapore, China, the U.S. Particularly, Vietnam’s shrimp imports from Thailand saw sharp increase. For the first time, Vietnam was the fifth largest importer of Thailand shrimp after the U.S., Japan, Canada and the UK with 10.086 MT, up 98% and US$65.683 million, up 57% over 2011.
The export turnover of shrimp which was imported to have further processing before exporting was expected to reach US$310 million, accounting for 14 percent of total export value of Vietnam shrimp.
Raw shrimp imports into Vietnam are expected to climb up if the epidemic on shrimp gets out of control and spread. According to processors, the prices of finished shrimp products processed from imported raw material are US$1 lower than those processed from domestic raw shrimp. The difference in prices is attributed to epidemic on shrimp and skyrocketing input costs for shrimp production in Vietnam.