(vasep.com.vn) After a deep decline for 2 consecutive months due to social distancing and Covid prevention, Vietnam's seafood exports in October had positive signs, with a figure of 918 million USD, nearly equivalent to the same period in 2020 and increased by 47% compared to September 2021.
This positive result is thanks to the easing of social distancing and reopening in localities from October 1 to restore production.
Exports of most major aquatic products recorded positive growth: tuna and cephalopod exports both increased by 18%, crabs increased by 13%, shrimp increased by 1.6%. The growth figures show that seafood export production is gradually stabilizing and recovering clearly.
Particularly, pangasius exports still fell by 18% in October, reaching only 139 million USD, due to a lack of raw materials and pangasius production and processing activities in localities were still moderate due to the impact of the Covid epidemic.
In October 2021, Vietnam's seafood exports to the US recovered the most, increasing by 31%, to the EU by 9%, to South Korea by 20%, and to Canada by 17%. However, exports to China continued to fall deeply by 43%.
By the end of October 2021, the country's seafood exports reached US$7.1 billion, a slight increase of 2.4%, of which shrimp reached US$3.2 billion, up 2.6%, and pangasius reached 1.2 billion USD equivalent to the same period last year, tuna reached 598 million USD, up 10%, cephalopod reached 475 million USD, up 4.5%, other fish decreased by nearly 1% to 1.36 billion USD. Particularly, bivalve molluscs maintained a high growth rate of 39% after 10 months, reaching 113 million USD.
The US accounted for 24% of turnover with nearly 1.7 billion USD, up 25% over the same period, Japan accounted for 15% with 1.08 billion USD, down 7%. China and the EU both accounted for 12% with a value of USD 872 million, down 24% and USD 864 million, up 7% over the same period last year. Exports to South Korea accounted for 9%, reaching US$643 million, up slightly by 2%.
Demand from import markets is still high, seafood processing production is recovering and will grow again in the next 2 months because vaccination rates in the Mekong Delta provinces increase rapidly, limiting the impact. of the Covid epidemic.