Vietnam’s seafood exports witness a recovery

The top 10 main markets of Vietnam seafood exports were the U.S., EU, Japan, South Korea, Australia, China, ASEAN, Brazil, Mexico and Russia, making up the 84 percent of the country’s total seafood exports.

Seafood shipment witnessed ebbs and flows in the past 5 months during which exports in Feb experienced the deepest dive (-30 percent) after an increase of 34 percent in Jan and reported a decrease of 17 percent in Mar. Entering Apr and May, exports tended to rebound compared with the same period of 2012 despite a low growth of 2 – 5 percent. Demand of seafood importers in the world, showed recovery signs and domestic production of raw material (shrimp, pangasius, tuna) has been increasing. Four main factors led to the decline in seafood exports during the first 5 months of 2013:

1. Instability in raw material supply

2. Demand from main importing markets dropped due to economic downturn

3. Technical barriers and barriers of duty imposed by main importing markets: Antidumping duty imposed by the U.S. on pangasius fillets (POR8), countervailing duty (CVD) by the U.S on Vietnam shrimp and Ethoxyquin barriers imposed by Japan and South Korea.

4. Many processors must suspend their operation or curtail production due to low demand from importers, lack of capital and the State’s supportive policies, hiking production costs.

Shrimp exports were on upward trend of 7 – 9 percent in Apr and May thanks to an increase in raw shrimp supply due to this period coincides with the harvesting season in the country. Shrimp exports represented the highest proportion of 37 percent with a turnover of US$830 million, up 4 percent over the same time of 2012. The next is pangasius exports with US$670 million, representing a decrease of 7 percent and making up 29 percent of total exports.

Pangasius farmers and processors were still under strain due to lack of capital, instability of raw material supply, low demand from importers and duty barriers.

The most outstanding factors depressing Vietnam’s shrimp exports were barriers from the U.S. DOC’s antidumping duty and countervailing duty (CVD). DOC's preliminary decision on CVD on Vietnam shrimp badly affected to the country’s shrimp exporters. Besides, shrimp exports to Japan and South Korea continued to face hardship due to Ethoxyquin barriers imposed by these two markets.

Tuna exports posed upbeat data in 2012 with a monthly growth of over 50 percent, however, entering Mar 2013, tuna exports showed decreasing signs with a reduction of 16 percent. Tuna shipment continued the downward trend of 16 percent in May. Total tuna exports in the first 5 months of 2013 were slated to reach US$251 million, up only 10 percent over the same time of 2012. The decline was mainly attributable to tuna demand in the early 2013 that slowed down after a strong increase in 2011 and especially in 2012. According to tuna exporters, tuna inventories in tuna importing countries were high while tuna price fell down. Moreover, mostly Vietnam tuna were caught using hook and line, thus, its quality and price were not suitable with importers’ requirements at that time.

Cephalopod exports witnessed the deepest dive of 25 percent with a revenue of US$154 million. In 2012, among top exported seafood items, tuna outstripped the third position to cephalopod exports. Entering the year 2013, exports of this item continued to shrink.

After a strong growth in 2012, exports of other marine finfish items and fish paste and surimi also followed the decline of tuna exports. Exports of these items in Mar 2013 sharply slashed by 28 percent, exports in Apr edged up slightly, exports in May continued to fall by 10 percent, driving exports in the first 5 months of 2013 down nearly 4 percent with a revenue of US$312 million. Production of marine finfish, including tuna for processing and exporting, experienced a setback because of hiking fishing costs, restriction of fishing stocks and low quality of post-harvested products.