In 2025, Vietnam’s seafood export turnover reached approximately USD 11.3 billion, an increase of more than 12% compared to 2024. This result reflects a relatively solid recovery in international market demand and highlights the initial effectiveness of strategic adjustments in production and export activities toward a more balanced approach between volume and value. The export structure continued to shift in a positive direction, with aquaculture products, deeply processed products, and value-added products playing an increasingly prominent role, thereby gradually reducing dependence on low-value and high-compliance-risk product groups.
Within the overall industry landscape, key products such as shrimp and pangasius continued to serve as the foundation, while bivalves, squid–octopus, crabs, and processed products recorded encouraging growth, indicating development potential across more diversified segments aligned with global consumption trends. Notably, the share of processed and value-added products continued to improve, reflecting a transition from raw material exports to finished products that better meet the requirements of developed markets.
In terms of markets, 2025 further reaffirmed the increasingly important role of Asia in Vietnam’s seafood export structure, with China and Hong Kong standing out as large, flexible markets capable of absorbing a wide range of products. At the same time, next-generation free trade agreements such as the CPTPP, EVFTA, and UKVFTA continued to demonstrate their effectiveness, enabling enterprises to expand markets, leverage tariff preferences, and gradually enhance their position in the global supply chain. Meanwhile, traditional markets such as the United States and the EU remained important but imposed increasingly stringent requirements related to legal compliance, environmental standards, and social responsibility, compelling enterprises to invest more heavily in risk management and supply chain transparency.
Alongside these achievements, 2025 also clearly highlighted the long-term challenges facing the seafood industry. Trade defense measures, regulations against IUU fishing, marine mammal protection requirements, together with the impacts of climate change and rising production costs, continue to directly affect the competitiveness of enterprises. These challenges are not merely short-term issues but require systematic and long-term adaptive strategies across the entire industry.
The Report on Vietnam seafood exports in 2025, implemented by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), provides the business community, regulatory authorities, and domestic and international partners with a comprehensive, systematic, and up-to-date overview of seafood export performance over the past year, while also offering strategic assessments for the period ahead. We expect the report to serve as a valuable reference, supporting policy formulation, business strategy development, and the promotion of sustainable growth for Vietnam’s seafood industry in an increasingly deep integration context.
VASEP respectfully invites enterprises, regulatory agencies, research institutions, and international partners to register for the Report to access in-depth, reliable information and data, contributing to policy planning, trade promotion, and the enhancement of the competitiveness of Vietnam’s seafood sector in the new phase of integration.
Please subscribe the Report on Vietnam seafood exports HERE or contact: Ms. Hai Yen; Email: nguyenyen@vasep.com.vn; Mobile: +84 8 5858 2626
Entering 2026, Vietnam’s seafood industry is facing a period of both high expectations and mounting pressures. Following the positive recovery in 2025, production and export activities in Q1/2026 demonstrated the strong adaptability of Vietnam’s seafood business community amid continued global trade volatility, intensifying international competition, and increasingly stringent compliance requirements in import markets.
(vasep.com.vn) In the first quarter of 2026, Vietnam’s shrimp exports reached USD 1.069 billion, up 17.5% compared to the same period in 2025. This is a positive result amid an uneven global shrimp market recovery, intensifying competition among major suppliers, and continued volatility in the international trade environment. However, this growth does not reflect a broad-based recovery across the entire sector, but rather is driven mainly by strong performance in a few markets and specific product segments—most notably lobster exports to China.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam’s tuna exports continued to decline in March 2026. Cumulatively, in the first three months of the year, export value reached USD 208 million, down 4% compared to the same period in 2025. The export landscape shows clear divergence across markets: while the U.S. and EU remain challenging, markets such as Russia, the Middle East, Egypt, the Philippines, and Mexico have emerged as growth bright spots.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In Quang Ngai Province, shrimp farming costs are rising sharply due to लगातार increases in feed, fuel, and input material prices, while farm-gate shrimp prices are declining. This has significantly reduced farmers’ profit margins and increased production risks.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam’s tilapia exports are experiencing impressive growth, reflecting expanding global demand as well as the sector’s development potential. However, behind the strong growth figures lie limitations in production capacity and supply chains, highlighting the need for sustainable development in the coming period.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam’s pangasius exports to the Middle East in 2025 and early 2026 have shown notable growth. However, escalating geopolitical tensions in the region have increasingly impacted export activities since March. This situation presents a challenge of balancing market expansion opportunities with rising trade risks.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) The Quang Tri Department of Agriculture and Environment has instructed localities to base their stocking schedules on actual conditions in each farming area, while developing plans, allocating resources, and implementing synchronized measures for disease prevention and disaster risk management in aquaculture production.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In the first two months of 2026, Vietnam’s exports of fish cakes and surimi exceeded USD 45 million, up 7% compared to the same period in 2025, indicating a positive outlook for this product segment amid recovering demand in many markets.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) During the week from April 4th to 10th, 2026, Quang Ngai province intensified its monitoring and law enforcement activities with the determination to eliminate illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Thanh Hoa’s shrimp sector is undergoing a strong transformation by accelerating the adoption of high technology, helping to improve productivity, increase profits, and meet market demands. The province currently has about 4,100 hectares of shrimp farming, with output continuing to rise despite stable farming area, mainly due to the shift from traditional methods to intensive and super-intensive farming.
VASEP - HIỆP HỘI CHẾ BIẾN VÀ XUẤT KHẨU THỦY SẢN VIỆT NAM
Chịu trách nhiệm: Ông Nguyễn Hoài Nam - Phó Tổng thư ký Hiệp hội
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