(vasep.com.vn) While shrimp and pangasius exports must grapple with trade barriers imposed by importers, Vietnam tuna has favorable conditions to increase sales thanks to expansion of importing markets. However, tuna exporters are being put under strain due to raw tuna undersupply. A sharp decrease in ocean tuna catch through the year to date was attributable to shortage of raw material.
In the first 6 months of 2013, Vietnam tuna exports saw a slight increase of 2.7 percent year-on-year with the export turnover of US$293.7 millionbecause of sharp decline in export volume tuna to some main markets.The U.S. remained the largest importer of Vietnam tuna, making up 37 percent of Vietnam’s total tuna exports however tuna exports to the market in Jan-Jun 2012 downed 15.5 percent over the last year to US$108.6 million.
Japan was the second largest importer of Vietnam tuna; however, in the first half of this year, the market was downgraded to the third position with import value of US$31.6 million. The figure dropped 18.4 percent compared to the same period of 2012.
Some fishing provinces like Binh Dinh and Phu Yen reported drop in tuna catches. In the first seven months, Binh Dinh caught 5,481 MT of tuna, 2.8 percent below that of the same period of 2012. Phu Yen’s production went down 31.4 percent to 4,115 MT. Through early July, the province numbered 117 out of 973 boats with capacity of over 90CV going fishing offshore. Many other boats have not managed the next fishing trip yet. The rising fuel price, reduction in tuna exports and its selling price adversely affect tuna fishing activities.
Some ocean tuna exporters in Binh Dinh said that they did not have enough raw tuna to operate their processing plants fully, leading to export volume was 30 percent lower than that of the same time of last year.
Phu Yen-based export companies saw drop in their export value because the supply of raw material was unstable and failed to meet quality standards to export. Additionally, high inventories in the global market after strongly increasing imports in 2012 and weakened consumption of tuna products in some main markets like Japan, the U.S and the EU were other reasons for decline in Vietnam tuna exports.