(seafood.vasep.com.vn) After more than a month of operation in the context of social distancing, seafood export results in August decreased by 27% compared to the same period last year, reaching about 588 million USD.
In August 2021, exports of shrimp, pangasius, tuna, squid, octopus, crabs and other marine fish all decreased by 20-33% over the same period in 2020. However, thanks to high export results. in the first 7 months of the year, the cumulative increase in the first 8 months of the year still increased by 7%, reaching 5.6 billion USD. In which, shrimp exports reached nearly 2.45billion USD, up 6%, pangasius exports still kept growing by 8.8%, reaching 993 million USD. Tuna export in 8 months also increased by over 12% to 460 million USD. Meanwhile, exports of squid, octopus and other fish (except tuna and pangasius) increased slightly by 4-5%.
Currently, some provinces south of Hau river such as Soc Trang, Ca Mau, Bac Lieu, Kien Giang... have good disease control and flexibility, so the production situation will recover sooner. These are the key provinces for shrimp production and export, so shrimp products are expected to help limit the sharp decline in seafood exports in the last months of the year.
Pangasius production and processing is concentrated mainly in the northern provinces of the Hau River, still heavy because of 3 local production, more than half of the factories have to close, the pangasius export situation is difficult to improve in the month. next.
Similarly, Ho Chi Minh City and the Southeast provinces have many factories and enterprises processing and exporting marine products such as squid, octopus, tuna, and other marine fish. With the current Covid-19 outbreak, production and exports in these areas will continue to stagnate in September.
Therefore, it is forecasted that seafood exports in September will continue to decrease by at least 20% to about 660 million USD. With the scenario after September, most seafood processing workers are vaccinated, companies do not have to produce under strict distancing regulations, exports in the last 3 months of the year will recover slightly and can reach about 8.5-8.6 billion USD. In which, shrimp exports are forecast to reach about 3.9-4 billion USD, pangasius about 1.5 billion USD, export of marine products about 3.1 billion USD.