Vietnam-the top shrimp supplier for Taiwan

 As of July 2012, shrimp exports to Taiwan achieved nearly US$42 million, up 16.2 percent compared to that of the same period of 2011. In July 2012, shrimp delivery to the market increased by 23.5 percent to over US$8.2 million while shrimp exports to other markets such as Japan, the U.S., EU or South Korea sank.

Raw black tiger shrimp is the main export item to Taiwan in many past years, representing a proportion of over 80 percent in shrimp exports to the market. For the year to July, raw black tiger shrimp exports to Taiwan reached US$35 million, accounting for 83 percent in total shrimp export revenue to the market and made up 87 percent in 2011. Taiwan is considered as a promising destination for Vietnam black tiger shrimp while many major consuming markets in the world are in favor of whiteleg shrimp.

According to International Trade Center (ITC)’s statistics on raw shrimp import into Taiwan, Vietnam has taken the lead in supplying shrimp for the market for the past five years (2007 – 2011). Raw shrimp imported into Taiwan from Vietnam represented 24.5 percent of total shrimp import  of the market in 2011. China followed with 17.5 percent and Thailand with 16.8 percent.

However, Vietnam’s black tiger shrimp products is fiercely competing in price with other suppliers due to hiking production costs in recent time.

In the early months of this year, Taiwan’s economy was hit heavily by European economic crisis and downturn of Chinese economy – the key trade partner of Taiwan. However, the economy are expected to recover in the last two quarters of the year. Thus, the growth in Vietnam shrimp exports to the market can continue in the last months of the year.