Vietnam shrimp exports to Australia went up

In 2018, Vietnamese shrimp exports to Australia reached US$ 114.7 million, down 4.4% compared to 2017. In 2019, after a decrease in the first 3 months, Vietnamese shrimp exports to Australia recovered, increasing continuously from April to the end of the year.

As of December 15, 2019, Vietnamese shrimp exports to Australia reached nearly US$ 121 million, up 12.6% over the same period in 2018. In the context of declining shrimp exports to major markets, Vietnam shrimp exports to Australia achieved double-digit growth. From April 2019 to the end of the year, Vietnamese shrimp exports to this market continued to grow with the largest increase were 56% in July and 45% in November 2019. Australia had the highest growth rate among the top 10 shrimp importers of Vietnam.

Vietnam mainly exports to Australia the products such as PD fresh/frozen whiteleg shrimp, frozen whiteleg shrim (head off, tail on), whiteleg shrimp (head off, peeled), frozen whole whiteleg shrimp, breaded tempura whiteleg shrimp...

According to International Trade Center data, in the first 10 months of 2019, shrimp imports of Australia reached US $ 237.4 million, down 16.6% compared to the same period in 2018. For many years, Vietnam has maintained as the largest shrimp supplier of Australia, accounting for 42% of Australia's total shrimp imports. China ranked second with 23%, followed by Thailand with 22%. Among top 6 largest suppliers for Australia, only shrimp imports from Vietnam increased by 4.6%, imports from the other suppliers all decreased by 2 digits. In Australian market, Vietnamese shrimp had to compete on price with Thailand. In the first 10 months of 2019, the average import price of shrimp from Vietnam reached US$ 10.1/kg while that of from Thailand reached US$ 9.3 /kg.

In early 2019, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) officially came into effect with Vietnam. The CPTPP includes 11 members (Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam).

Australia is a member country of the CPTPP. As committed in CPTPP, all shrimp products exported to Australia will enjoy 0% tariff rate right after the Agreement comes into effect.

Among seafood products imported from Vietnam, shrimp was the most consumed product in Australia with an annual consumption of 50-60 thousand MT. Farmed shrimp is favored in Australia, but more and more consumers are choosing frozen shrimp imported from Thailand and Vietnam. Besides, Large size Vietnamese tiger shrimp are also favored by Australian consumers.

In the past 2 years, the US-China trade war has not come to an end, causing the economies of the two powers to fall into decline. To avoid affecting by these trade partners, the Australian Government is advocating the priority of expanding markets to India, ASEAN countries. Therefore, this was also an opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises to boost exports to Australia.

Australia is one of the countries with very high requirements for compliance with biosafety and food safety and quarantine compared to other markets as Australian consumers set very high standards and these standards are supported by a series of consumer protections in every state in the country. Boosting trade promotion, building a value chain for shrimp products, providing new products with high added value, quality, guaranteed origin and clear labels were the factors that enterprises should pay attention to when exporting to this market.