Vietnamese exports of tuna to the EU took off during the first months of 2022

According to statistics of Vietnam Customs, Vietnamese export turnover to the EU reached $144m in 2021, a growth of 6.4% compared to the previous year. Although yearly export value records an expansion, some monthly statistics did show a downward trend compared to 2020, especially for the last few months of the year when Covid-19 broke out. 

In 2021, Vietnam was the 7th largest supplier of tuna for EU markets, following Ecuador, Seychelles, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, China, and Mauritius. Due to the costly ocean freight costs in 2021, there was a shrink in the EU’s imports of tuna from Asian countries, namely China, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand, in contrast to the rising imports from African or Central American countries like Seychelles, El Salvador, and Ecuador.

Moving on to 2022, Vietnamese tuna exports to most countries in the EU have recovered. Export turnover of January 2022 approximated $15m, almost doubled that for January 2021. Exports to many markets recorded a surging growth rate of 3 to 4 digits, including Lithuania (at 1,938%), Netherlands (at 243%), Belgium (at 215%), etc.  

It is expected that the upward trend of tuna exports to the EU will continue for this year. As the economies of the Euro are growing strongly again and reaching the same size as the end of 2019 - the time before the Covid-19 pandemic, it has boosted the demand for tuna in recovering EU countries. In addition, the tariff preferences as agreed in the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the EU (EVFTA) resumed in the first months of 2022 are creating a driving force to promote Vietnam's tuna exports to this market.

However, this year, due to the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Vietnamese tuna processing and exporting enterprises will continue to face challenges such as increased transportation costs and production costs (the price of preprocessed fish, sunflower oil, etc.) increased. These issues are expected to affect product prices and reduce the competitiveness of tuna enterprises in target markets such as the EU.

Currently, the whole country has 48 enterprises participating in exporting tuna to the EU market, in which Tuna Vietnam, Bidifisco, and Nha Trang Bay are the 3 largest tuna exporting companies to the EU market, accounting for 57% of the total tuna export value to this market in 2021.