Exports continue to decline sharply
From the beginning of the year to September 2025, Vietnam’s tuna export value to Israel recorded sharp decreases ranging from 29% to 69%. In 2024, Israel was Vietnam’s second-largest single tuna import market and the biggest importer among Middle Eastern markets. However, in 2025, exports to this market have dropped significantly.
Israel shifts its import structure
Israel is diversifying its tuna import sources, increasing purchases from Thailand, Ecuador, and the Philippines—countries that have advantages in terms of price and more stable supply amid rising global transportation costs.
Tuna consumption demand in Israel remains stable, especially for canned products, but buyers are becoming more cautious about price and delivery times. Geopolitical tensions in the region and fluctuations in logistics have led importers to prioritize partners with shorter and more stable supply chains.
Exports to Israel face multiple challenges
One of the main reasons for the sharp decline in Vietnam’s tuna exports to Israel in 2025 is logistics disruptions and rising transportation costs, which reduce the competitiveness of long-distance shipments.
Second, Vietnam’s tuna products face strong price competition from Asia-Pacific countries with large processing capacity such as Thailand and the Philippines.
Third, stricter and in some cases unreasonable requirements for traceability and compliance with regulations on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing are forcing Vietnamese exporters to invest additional time and compliance costs. Instability in raw material supply and delivery times has also led some Israeli importers to temporarily reduce orders or shift to other suppliers.
Vietnam once surpassed Thailand to become Israel’s largest tuna supplier, showing that recovery opportunities remain if competitiveness is improved. To regain market share, Vietnamese exporters need to optimize logistics costs, enhance deep-processing capacity, ensure traceability, and strengthen long-term relationships with importers. The nearly 50% decline in tuna exports to Israel is a clear warning about the risks of dependence on traditional markets, requiring exporters to proactively diversify markets and adapt to new import trends, where sustainability, transparency, and cost efficiency are increasingly prioritized.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) The year 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States (1995–2025). In parallel with the nation's progress in international economic integration, bilateral seafood trade has followed a remarkably impressive growth trajectory, expanding from an initial scale of just tens of millions of US dollars to nearly $2 billion annually. This growth has positioned the United States as Vietnam’s largest seafood export market for many consecutive years.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) On December 12, 2025, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Processing and Export (VASEP) issued document 231/CV-VASEP regarding strengthening measures to combat IUU fishing and working with the Government to lift the EC's IUU yellow card warning.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Tilapia is easy to farm and provides high economic and nutritional value, making it a sought-after export commodity in many countries.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam’s seafood exports in the first 10 months of 2025 recorded significant progress, reaching more than USD 9.5 billion, up 15% year-on-year. This result reflects the sector’s persistent efforts amid a highly volatile market, especially policy shocks from the US Although signs of slowdown emerged in the third quarter due to countervailing taxes, key product groups still maintained strong momentum and created a foundation for full-year exports to reach USD 11 billion.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam’s agreement with the United States on a framework for reciprocal, fair, and balanced trade—reached during the 2025 ASEAN Summit in Malaysia—has generated strong optimism for Vietnamese exports, including tuna. Numerous positive points in the joint statement have raised high expectations for Vietnamese export goods, but turning these expectations into tangible benefits remains a long and challenging journey.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) At the conference on “Linking the Production and Consumption Chain of Ca Mau Crab 2025,” Vice Chairman of the Ca Mau Provincial People’s Committee Lê Văn Sử posed a central question: how to shift the province’s crab exports toward official trade channels, instead of relying heavily on small-scale border trade with China as currently practiced.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) The whitefish market in Japan is showing a clear divergence among supplying countries, in which Vietnam continues to affirm its role as a stable and high-potential exporter. Vietnam currently ranks third after the US and Russia in whitefish export value to Japan. Thanks to tariff incentives and the ability to meet Japan’s strict standards, Vietnamese pangasius continues to record a stable and positive growth trend.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) The People's Committee of Ca Mau Province has just issued a plan to expand the super-intensive, low-water-exchange, biosecure white-leg shrimp farming model (RAS-IMTA) for whiteleg shrimp farming to a scale of 1,500 hectares, aiming to develop high-tech, sustainable and environmentally friendly shrimp farming.
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