QII/2016: Vietnam shrimp sales up 2.3%

The growth in shrimp exports was thanks to recovery in importing demand from main markets, lower inventories, more stable exchange rate, rise in export shrimp price and global shrimp price.

In 2016, the global shrimp production is expected to fall due to drought in many regions caused by El Nino effects. Predictably, the shrimp production in 2016 in Vietnam and other shrimp producers will not grow. Therefore, the global shrimp price tend to inch up 10-15% after sharp decrease in 2015.

Shrimp products for exports

In the first 6 months of this year, among Vietnam’ total shrimp products for exports, white shrimp still dominated with the proportion of nearly 59%; black tiger ranked the second with 32.9% and 8.4% for marine shrimp. The proportion of white shrimp and black tiger were up 0.2%, while that of marine shrimp fell by 0.4%.

Sales of white shrimp products increased by 5.2% to nearly 794 million USD; Exports of black tiger shrimp products brought US$444.5 million, increasing by 5.3% to while exports of other marine products fell by 0.5% to over US$113 million.

Live/fresh frozen white shrimp (HS code 03) brought to the highest export value of US$431.6 million; up 2.3% compared to the same period of 2015.

Among total shrimp products for exports, the highest growth of 24% was seen in sales of other processed black tiger shrimp (HS code 16). In contrast, exports of canned other shrimp (HS code 16) saw the deepest dive of 55.9% with a small value of US$1.7 million.

Importing markets

In QII/2016, Vietnam shrimp were exported to 75 markets; decreasing compared to 81 ones of the same period in 2015.

Top 10 main importing markets included the U.S., EU, Japan, China, South Korea, Canada, Australia, ASEAN, Taiwan and Switzerland; accounting for 95% of the country's total shrimp exports. Out of  top 5 largest markets, only exports to Japan fell 8.8%; exports to the others rose. Of which exports to China showed the largest increase of 41.8%; then to the U.S. rose 13.8%, EU up 6.5% and South Korea increased by 6%. Exports to markets with lower sales declined: Canada (-21.8%), Australia (-9%), ASEAN (-1.5%), Taiwan (-29.4%), Switzerland (-18.9%) ...

After a sharp decline in 2015, Vietnam’s shrimp exports to the U.S. in the first half of this year reported the positive growth. Remaining the growth in QI/2016, the exports in QII/2016 increased by 0.4% to US$147 million. As of June 2016, exports to the market gained nearly US$299 million, up 13.8% over the same period in 2015.

On Jul 18th 2016, in Washington, Vietnam and the U.S. signed an agreement related to antidumping duty over shrimp imported from Vietnam. Accordingly, the two sides reached bilateral solutions to settle the two long-lasting World Trade Organisation (WTO) disputes over imports of Vietnamese shrimp to the US, in which Vietnam sues the US for violating WTO regulations when imposing antidumping duty on Vietnamese shrimp. This is a good news for Vietnam shrimp exporters, especially Minh Phu Seafood Corp. According to the new agreement, DOC issued the preliminary conclusion that adjusts dumping margin for Minh Phu Corp and consider lifting antidumping duty order for this company.

DOC has raised average antidumping duty on shrimp imported from India to 4.98% from 2.96%. Higher antidumping duty will push up Indian shrimp price and reduce its competitiveness in price in the U.S. market.

The prestige of Thailand shrimp is reducing in the world market due to human trafficking or abuse of slaves in peeling factories and GSP lost from EU; the shrimp supply of India dropped with higher antidumping duty, the shrimp production of Ecuador slid due to earthquake and epidemic. These factors will facilitate Vietnam shrimp exports to the U.S.

With the above advantages, Vietnam shrimp exports to the U.S. in the second half of the year is expected to continue to rise.

After a slight increase in QI/2016, Vietnam shrimp exports to the EU in QII/2016 continued to surge 9.3% to reach US$150.6 million.

Exports to the EU market as of Jun 2016 reached US$262.3 million, up 6.5% year on year. Shrimp exports to the EU increased due to lower inventory and higher demand. Exports to 3 major markets (Germany, the UK, Netherlands) showed the positive growth in which exports to the Netherlands witnessed the highest growth of 26.3%.

Forecast

In the second half of the year, the shortage of raw shrimp supply will continue due to salinity. The shrimp exports in 2016 estimated to hit US$3.2 billion; up 10% compared to the same period in 2015.

By Kim Thu