44% increase in Vietnam's seafood exports in January - signaling a prosperous year

Continuing the recovery momentum from the last 2 months of the year, seafood enterprises have promoted the export of many strong aquatic species.

Accordingly, whiteleg shrimp exports increased by 39%, and black tiger shrimp exports increased by 92%. Total shrimp exports brought in $313 million, up 43%. Pangasius exports increased by 78%, bringing in nearly 214 million USD, tuna increased by 108% with a turnover of 88 million USD. Squid increased by 57% and octopus increased by 31%, the total turnover of these two species increased by 45% to 63 million USD...

Aquatic production and processing have almost returned to normal as before the peak of the epidemic. The demand of the markets is very high, businesses receive many orders. The price of domestic raw materials also increased, so both farmers, fishermen and businesses are optimistic about a bountiful year, all are excited to actively produce.

In January, enterprises exported seafood to 117 markets. Exports to all major markets increased by leaps and bounds. The top 6 markets with a proportion of 4-23% of Vietnam's seafood export value include: the US, Japan, Korea, China, Australia and Canada. These markets increased from 17 to 84% of seafood imports from Vietnam in the first month of 2022.

With nearly 200 million dollars, the US still holds the dominant share of 23%. The US sharply increased imports of seafood products from Vietnam: shrimp increased by 61%, pangasius increased by 92%, tuna increased more than 3 times, other fish species increased by nearly 30%...

After a slight decrease in 2021, exports to Japan in January this year recovered by 21% to $134 million. In which, 40% is shrimp products with 54 million USD, up 23%. Japan also sharply increased imports of squid and octopus from Vietnam with a growth rate of 55%.

Japan is the number 1 market for Vietnam's exported marine fish products. In the past month, this market has imported 57 million USD of marine fish from Vietnam, up 14%. In which, Vietnamese enterprises mainly export salmon - which is a raw material product imported for processing and exporting to this market.

Although shrimp exports to China still fell by 16%, exports of pangasius, squid, and octopus have returned strongly with a figure that has more than tripled compared to the same period last year. As a result, seafood exports to China recovered 64% with $62 million.

With $69 million in imports from Vietnam, the Korean market still accounts for a higher proportion than China. In which, exports of two main products, shrimp and octopus, increased by 33% and 18% respectively.

The Australian and Canadian markets both increased strongly in importing Vietnamese seafood, up 29% and 85% respectively, of which increased in all main products.

Seafood exports to the EU increased by 70% to 108 million USD. In which, the major markets in the bloc increased very strongly importing seafood from Vietnam: Germany increased by 28%, Belgium increased by 85%, France increased by 131%... The good news is that pangasius exports to this market group broke out strongly, increasing by 70%, shrimp by 79%, tuna by 81%, cephalopod by 90%...

With many orders, hopefully seafood enterprises will gradually solve the problem of lack of labor and raw materials to take advantage of opportunities this year. With that optimism, we believe that exports in February and the coming months will continue to record positive results. Accordingly, seafood exports in the first quarter of this year may bring in about 2 billion USD, up about 15% over the same period last year.

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