(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In July 2018, Vietnam's tuna exports to the EU continues to grow positively. The tuna export value of Vietnam to the EU in July 2018 reached US$12.6 million; the figure in the first seven months of this year amounted to US$83.7 million, up 22% over the same period last year. This was a good signal in the context of yellow card warning against Vietnamese seafood.
The three largest importing markets in the bloc included Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. In the second quarter of 2018, exports to Germany and Italy decreased by 4.6% and 10.4% respectively, while exports to the Netherlands increased by 61%.
In the first half of this year, exports of tuna loins/fillets and other processed tuna from Vietnam to the EU increased, while those of canned tuna and other fresh/live/frozen tuna reduced. Notably, exports of other processed tuna products from Vietnam to this market sharply increased by 337%, exports of tuna loins/fillets, the key export product to the EU in this period, rose by 34.7%.
This year, the EU countries tended to reduce imports of canned tuna. According to the latest Eurostat statistics, the EU countries imported nearly 135,600 MT of canned tuna products from countries in the first three months of this year, down 10% (over 15,000 MT) over the same period in 2017.
In the EU, Spain continued to be the largest exporter of canned tuna products to countries in the bloc. During the first three months of this year, Spain's canned tuna exports fell by 21% to hit 27,200 MT.
Generally, the tariff rate of 24% for canned tuna products led to a competition in EU markets, but Thai processors played an important role in supplying commercial and MSC-certified tuna products to the region.
In recent months, tuna capture was low; therefore, supplies to the main production areas such as Manta, Ecuador and Bangkok, Thailand went down. This pushes tuna prices up in the first month of the year, and this has affected the consumption demand for this item in final markets.
