(vasep.com.vn) Between January and March 2013, Vietnam imported US$133 million of fish for processing. The four main suppliers were Taiwan, Japan, Norway and India, covering 40.3 percent of the total. In the next two quarters of the year, purchase of raw material from outside is predicted to increase by 5 – 7 percent over the compatible period of 2012.
Marine fish, tuna, shrimp, squid and octopus were the most imported products in terms of value. Taiwan remained Vietnam’s biggest supplier of ocean tuna and other marine fish like eel, frozen whole halfbeak, shark, and headless swordfish.
In the first quarter, Vietnamese enterprises continued to purchase trout from Norway, including fresh, whole, chilled fish with size of 5 – 6 kilogram and 6 – 7 kilogram; ordinary gutted fish with size of 6 – 7 kilogram; smoked sliced fish of 10 kilogram/box. Vietnam also bought other marine fish species such as flounder, snapper fillets and pollock from South Korea to process for supply contract with foreign partners.
Thailand, India and Indonesia were Vietnam companies’ main suppliers of mollusk species (HS 0307), sardine, mackerel, perch, and grouper. Australia kept exporting live lobster and abalone to Vietnam.
Currently, these above countries are increasingly importing raw material in order to diversify products to export and strengthen competitiveness in international markets. Referring to Thailand Customs’ statistics, in January – February 2013, the country’s imports of frozen fish (excluding fillets and fish meats with HS 0307) soared 50 – 120 percent in value over the same period of the last year. Purchase of mollusk (HS 0307) was up of 5 – 6 percent, fish with HS 0302 up 3 – 10 percent.
In 2012, China and Indonesia have also boosted imports of a large range of fish species for processing and export. Chinese purchase of crustacean (HS 0306) went up of 36.7 percent in value; fish with HS 0302 up 61 percent; fish with HS 0304 up 37 percent; live fish up 120 percent; and fish with HS 0305 up 3.5 percent.
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Seafood imports by Vietnam, Jan – Mar 2013
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|
No.
|
Origin
|
Value (US$)
|
No.
|
Origin
|
Value (US$)
|
|
1
|
Taiwan
|
16,265,630
|
13
|
Russia
|
2,584,077
|
|
2
|
Japan
|
12,566,748
|
14
|
The U.K.
|
1,821,263
|
|
3
|
Norway
|
12,429,834
|
15
|
Malaysia
|
1,807,743
|
|
4
|
India
|
12,340,805
|
16
|
Myanmar
|
1,125,931
|
|
5
|
Chile
|
8,294,946
|
17
|
Canada
|
1,080,763
|
|
6
|
Poland
|
7,582,743
|
18
|
Singapore
|
680,039
|
|
7
|
Thailand
|
4,982,570
|
19
|
The Philippines
|
328,517
|
|
8
|
South Korea
|
4,735,510
|
20
|
The Netherlands
|
85,050
|
|
9
|
Indonesia
|
4,503,027
|
21
|
Saudi Arabia
|
74,808
|
|
10
|
China
|
3,843,906
|
Others
|
28,815,638
|
|
11
|
The U.S.
|
3,779,126
|
Total
|
133,027,220
|
|
12
|
Denmark
|
3,298,546
|
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Seafood imports by the U.S, Jan – Feb 2012/2013, thousand US$
Source: ITC
|
|
HS code
|
Products
|
2012
|
2013
|
|
January
|
February
|
January
|
February
|
|
0304
|
Fillet/nugget/fresh/chilled/frozen fish
|
509,406
|
427,747
|
449,472
|
401,001
|
|
0306
|
Other crustaceans
|
439,085
|
333,574
|
401,354
|
319,011
|
|
0302
|
Fresh/chilled fish (excluding fish with HS 0304)
|
101,983
|
107,064
|
109,891
|
106,894
|
|
0307
|
Mollusk
|
71,468
|
64,229
|
72,427
|
62,130
|
|
0303
|
Frozen fish (excluding fish fillets and other fish meat with HS 0304)
|
57,676
|
44,762
|
53,748
|
40,898
|
|
0305
|
Salted/smoked fish and fishmeal ingredients
|
24,106
|
24,014
|
20,485
|
22,859
|
|
0301
|
Live fish
|
6,051
|
6,018
|
6,095
|
6,258
|
|
0308
|
Live/fresh/chilled aquatic boneless animals and mollusk
|
3,233
|
2,418
|
3,637
|
5,005
|