(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In the first two months of 2018, Vietnam’s tuna exports to Germany reached US$5.46 million, up 58% over the same period last year. Currently, Germany stayed as the largest tuna importing market of Vietnam in Europe.
According to the latest statistics from ITC, in 2017, Germany imported about 71 thousand MT of tuna with the value of US$411.7 million, up 24% in volume and 40% in value over the previous year. Vietnam held as the 6th largest tuna supplier to the German market (behind Ecuador, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Netherlands and Spain).
Last year Germany increased its imports in most of the major suppliers and reduced imports from the Netherlands - the largest tuna supplier to Germany in the EU.
Up to 92.5% of the total value of tuna imports into Germany is processed/canned tuna products (HS code 160414). Last year, the import value of processed tuna products into the country also increased by 40%. In addition, imports of frozen tuna increased by 56%, and those of fresh and chilled yellowfin (HS code 030232) also went up 26% compared to 2016.
According to FAO statistics, in 2017, the total import value of tuna into Germany increased remarkably because the average import price was higher than that in previous years. In particular, the price of canned tuna ranged from US$4.5 to US$4.8/kg, higher than the level of US$3.8 to US$4/kg in the previous year. In the past year, the import volume of tuna into Germany also increased, ranging from 9,000 to 11,000 MT per month.
Three major suppliers to the market were the Philippines, Ecuador and Papua New Guinea, which mainly exported canned and processed tuna to the German market. In particular, imports of processed/canned tuna (HS code 160414) doubled compared to 2016. Papua New Guinea continued to keep a large market share of processed tuna exports to the market.
In the first quarter of 2018, tuna imports, especially processed and canned tuna (HS code 160414), expected to go on the rise over the same period in 2017. In addition to large suppliers, German customers tended to increase imports from ASEAN, including the Philippines and Vietnam.