Vietnam shrimp exports to EU slightly rose

Vietnam shrimp exports tend to decrease compared to the same period last year due to lower shrimp prices and import demand from major markets. Domestic shrimp prices in the first months of 2018 were affected by world market factors due to the cold weather, snowstorms in countries like the US and Canada; which made the consumption of shrimps decrease significantly, leading to high inventories in Japan, South Korea and EU.

Whiteleg shrimp still occupied a key position in the structure of total shrimp products exports of Vietnam, accounting for 68.7%, followed by black tiger shrimp at 22.9% and marine shrimp at 8.3%.

In the first 10 months of 2018, the value of whiteleg shrimp exports decreased by 1%, while the export of black tiger shrimp decreased by 7% and that of marine shrimp decreased by 32% compared to the same period last year.

In the structure of whiteleg shrimp and tiger shrimp exports, only processed whiteleg shrimp processed (HS code 16) increased by 7%, while other products fell.

In October this year, Vietnam shrimp exports to major markets fell sharply such as EU (-30.6%), China (-38%), Korea (-18.4%), Japan (- 5%). However, exports to the US increased slightly by 0.8%. Notably, shrimp export to ASEAN increased remarkably by 55% compared to the same period last year.

EU

The EU is Vietnam's largest shrimp import market, accounting for 24.4% of Vietnam's total shrimp exports. In the first two quarters of this year, Vietnam shrimp exports to EU increased strongly in the context of falling shrimp exports to other major markets like the US, China and Japan. However, as in the third quarter of this year, exporting shrimp to this market began to decline. In October this year, shrimp exports to the EU fell sharply by 30.6%, similar to the continuous decrease in three major markets.

However, thanks to good growth in the first 2 quarters, Vietnam shrimp exports to EU market by October this year still increased slightly by 4.4%, reaching US$724.7 million

The UK, the Netherlands and Germany are the three largest import markets for Vietnamese shrimp in the EU. In the first ten months of this year, shrimp exports to England and Germany increased by 19% and 16% respectively, while exports to the Netherlands fell by 1.4%.

The US

The US is the second largest shrimp import market of Vietnam, accounting for 18.2% of Vietnam's total shrimp export value. After the continuous fall from April to July this year, shrimp exports to this market has recovered positive growth in August, September and October. Vietnam shrimp exports to the US in the first 10 months of this year reached US$540.4 million, down by 2.7% compared to the same period in 2017.

The end result of the anti-dumping tax on Vietnamese shrimp during the 12th administrative review period - POR12 (February 1, 2016 - January 31, 2017) is much more positive than previous reviews. This has helped Vietnamese shrimp enterprises feel secure in boosting sales to the US market in the upcoming time, especially the period of good purchasing focus from US importers for the year-end holidays.

In addition, the US-China trade war is also an opportunity for Vietnamese shrimp exporting enterprises to boost export to this market because of high tariffs imposed by China on Chinese goods.

Shrimp prices have started to recover, demand tends to increase at the end of the year, furthermore, exports to the US market has positive signs thanks to the lower shrimp anti dumping duty.