Vietnam shrimp exports to the US and EU in October 2022 plummeted

Thanks to the breakthrough growth in the first half of the year, Vietnam's shrimp exports as of October 2022 still increased by 18% to reach $3.8 billion.

In the structure of Vietnam's shrimp export products, whiteleg shrimp exports increased by 13%, black tiger shrimp increased slightly by 1.2%, marine shrimp increased the most by 106%. Among the exported vannamei and black tiger shrimp products, processed products outperformed live/fresh/frozen products.

In October, some main markets educed shrimp imports from Vietnam such as the US, EU, UK, and South Korea. Shrimp exports to the US and EU dropped sharply by 51% and 35%, respectively. Exports to the UK decreased by 20%, exports to South Korea decreased slightly by 1%. Exports to Japan still increased slightly by 5%. Particularly, exports to China still maintained a growth rate of 49% compared to October 2021.

It is difficult for shrimp exports in the next 2 months to keep the same growth as in previous months

By the end of October, although imports decreased by 18% over the same period, the US market still accounted for the largest proportion, accounting for nearly 20% of Vietnam's shrimp exports with a turnover of 733 million USD.

Vietnam's shrimp exports to the US have continuously decreased by double digits from June until now. The oversupplied market, record high inflation and the fuel crisis caused people to tighten their spending, so shrimp imports into the US from most sources have decreased.

According to data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in the first 9 months of this year, the volume of shrimp imports into the US from India decreased by 16%, Indonesia (-9%), Vietnam (- 31%), Thailand (-12%), Argentina (-11%), only imports from Ecuador increased 11%.

In 2022, Indian shrimp production faced many difficulties, output decreased, disease outbreaks, input costs increased, shrimp selling prices fell sharply while shrimp farming in Ecuador was more favorable, with high productivity, and few diseases. Ecuador plans to increase whiteleg shrimp production to 2 million tons by 2025.

Besides the US, Vietnam's shrimp exports to the EU in October 2022 decreased by 35% compared to the same period last year. Exports to 4 main markets in the bloc (Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France) simultaneously decreased at double digits. Uncertainty in the economy, politics and the upward trend in commodity prices, especially energy prices, have negatively impacted import demand from the EU market in recent months. As of October 2022, shrimp exports to the EU reached US$618 million, up 28% over the same period last year.

It is difficult for shrimp exports in the next 2 months to keep the same growth as in previous months because of the declining demand, challenges in raw material and high production costs while enterprises and farmers lack capital to rotate investment in production and processing for export.

Compiled by Thuy Linh