The EU – Vietnam’s leading pangasius importer

U.S imports of pangasius from Vietnam kept decreasing while those of the EU saw slight rise in recent months. The EU has passed the U.S to be the leading pangasius importer of Vietnam.

Through November this year, exports to the EU valued at US$353.6 million, down 9.7 percent from that of 2012. In which, Denmark, Greece, Lithuania, Romania and Sweden bought higher volume of pangasius products. Consumption of this fish was also soaring in Portugal and Eastern Europe countries. Dutch demand for pangasius remained high, especially in retail sales.

Spain continued to be the largest single market for importing pangasius in Europe with the year-to-date value of US$69.3 million, down 13.2 percent against a year ago. The country reported growth of over 39 percent in imports in only three out of eleven months. Spanish pangasius imports saw positive sings in recent months.

Prices for pangasius exported to Spain and the EU in general were down about 10 percent over the last year. However, in recent months, the fish price got closer to quotations in the last months of 2012.

Through November 2013, U.S. imports of Vietnamese pangasius had a worth of US$351.3 million, up 4.6 percent. Shipments has slowed down since June due to high inventory in the market. There has been no rise in pangasius price there so far.

In the first ten months of 2013, the average price of pangasius imported in American market was US$3.04 per kilogram, 9 percent below US$3.34 per kilogram in 2012. This year, Vietnamese frozen pangasius fillets of all size have lower prices compared to the previous years. At present, frozen fish fillets 5 – 7 oz varies around US$1.7 per pound.

In contrast, U.S. farmed catfish has been sold at higher price since September 2013. It also had higher value than that of 2012 because of a low catfish supply in the market. The rising catfish feed made farmers dry ponds to farm other high profitable crops.

American consumers were eating less seafood as the result of economic downturn, which started in 2008. However, the situation was different in case of pangasius products. In 2012, per-capita pangasius consumption was 0.73 pound, up 105 percent from that recorded in 2009. At the same time, catfish price rose strongly and drove consumption down 40 percent to 0.5 pound per person per year compared to 5 years ago.

Between January and November 2013, Brazil purchased US$106.04 million of pangasius from Vietnam, up 56 percent against 2012. This market is eating more seafood products. Over the recent years, Brazilian currency and consumption power have recovered along with the improvement of living conditions. Local consumers are interested in healthy food like seafood.

ASEAN countries imported US$114.2 million of Vietnamese pangasius through November, up 12 percent from last year and accounted for 7.2 percent of Vietnam’s total pangasius sales abroad. Some countries in the block like the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia also produce catfish to serve their domestic market, but the volume is so small. Additionally, their fish fillets has smaller size than products imported from Vietnam.