Tuna exports to Japan not to recover

According to statistics of Vietnam Customs, Vietnam's tuna exports decreased continuously in the first 2 months of 2021. Japan continued to drop in the ranking of the largest tuna import markets of Vietnam. .

This year, the structure of Vietnam's tuna exports to Japan has also changed. If in the previous years, processed and canned tuna was the main export product group of Vietnam to this market, this year Japan tended to increase imports of fresh, frozen tuna - the increase is up to 91% over the same period in 2020. Meanwhile, the import of processed and canned tuna products decreased by 49%.

Currently, according to statistics of the World Trade Center (ITC), Japan is also reducing imports from other countries. Japan's import of tuna in the first 2 months of 2021 decreased by 15% in volume compared to 2020.

The Covid-19 epidemic continued to affect heavily on the Japanese tuna market. Since Japan removed its emergency at the end of May 2020, the Japanese tuna market is expected to bounce back. However, delaying major events and public vigilance about dining out have slowed market recovery.

By 2021, after a long period of confidently controlling the epidemic, Japan is currently facing the 4th Covid-19 epidemic wave. The number of Covid-19 cases in Japan is skyrocketing. There is a state of emergency in place in six major Japanese prefectures including Tokyo and Osaka. The government is proposing to tighten the anti-epidemic measures, and is expected to cancel the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. This will make the Japanese tuna market difficult to recover. Japan's imports of tuna are expected to remain low, due to reduced demand.

By the end of February 2021, there were 11 Vietnamese enterprises participating in tuna export to Japan.