Vietnam’s seafood exports are back on track and accelerating

For the first time with positive growth after 11 consecutive months of decline, the US regained its No. 1 position with 165 million USD of Vietnamese seafood import turnover in August, an increase of nearly 4% over the same period in 2022.

Although pangasius exports are still 24% lower, exports of all other key products to the US have recovered in the past month: shrimp increased by 11%, tuna increased by 2%, other marine fish increased by 12%, crab, cephalopods, and shellfish all increased from 24-56% over the same period last year.

It is recovering slowly, but the US market still has a better trend for frozen seafood consumption. While the retail price of fresh seafood in the US continues to decrease, the price of frozen seafood is increasing slightly by 0.5%. By August 2023, the number of US consumers eating out was higher than before, also a positive sign of consumption trends in the coming months.

By the end of August 2023, Vietnam seafood exports to the US have reached 1 billion USD.

By the end of August 2023, seafood exports to the US have reached 1 billion USD. It is forecast that for the whole year of 2023, this market will contribute 1.7 billion USD in export revenue for Vietnamese seafood, 23% less than in 2022.

Vietnam seafood exports to Japan and China in August were higher than the previous two months, but did not clearly reflect the recovery trend. However, the incident of Japan discharging nuclear waste is more or less disturbing the country's seafood trade with China and other markets. The impact until August is not clear, but it is possible that this will reduce Japanese seafood imports into China, Korea and some other countries.

Japan exports to China mainly mollusc products such as scallops, scallops, oysters, cephalopods, pollock, salmon, cod, cold water shrimp, etc for both domestic consumption and processing purposes. Japan’s move may help Vietnamese seafood gain more market share in some markets in the near future. Therefore, it is forecasted that seafood exports to China will increase again more strongly in the last 4 months of the year, both to meet demand during the Lunar New Year holiday and to partially offset the decline from the Japanese market

Exports of key products such as whiteleg shrimp, pangasius, tuna, tiger shrimp, squid, and frozen fish cakes are still lower than the same period in 2022

Vietnam seafood exports to Korea in August also reached the highest level since the beginning of the year, but compared to the same period, it was still 24% lower.

However, in addition to the main markets with different trends, there are many small markets that recorded growth in August, including: Australia, the Philippines, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and some markets in the EU such as Italy, Switzerland, Finland…

August 2023 also recorded a breakthrough for many aquatic products such as cod, pollock, crab, lobster, herring, mackerel, fish sauce... Products such as processed tuna, canned sea fish, shrimp, crab, processed pangasius, dried shrimp are having increased import demand compared to last year.

However, exports of key products such as whiteleg shrimp, pangasius, tuna, tiger shrimp, squid, and frozen fish cakes are still lower than the same period in 2022, causing overall export sales to not make a breakthrough.

Therefore, by the end of August, Vietnam's total seafood exports still had a negative growth of 24.5% compared to the same period in 2022. Exports of major products were 14 - 34% lower than the same period last year.

However, with more positive signs from the US and Chinese markets, pangasius and shrimp exports are forecast to progress better in the coming months. Accordingly, pangasius exports can bring in sales of 1.8-1.9 billion USD, shrimp exports are estimated to reach 3.6 billion USD and seafood products will reach about 3.5 billion USD. And, thus, it is forecast that total seafood exports in 2023 may reach about 9.1 - 9.2 billion USD, down 16% compared to 2022.

Compiled by Thuy Linh