Vietnam- the third largest seafood exporter in the world

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Nguyet, Deputy General Director of Directorate of Fisheries, said that by 2022, the growth rate of seafood production value will increase by 3% compared to 2021, the total output will reach 9.06 million tons, an increase of 3.1% compared to 2021. In which, fishing output reached 3.86 million tons; farming reached 5.19 million tons.

Notably, seafood export turnover in 2022 is estimated to reach a record of about 11 billion USD, up 23.8% over the same period in 2021 (8.89 billion USD) and  22.2% compared to the target of $9 billion. In which, export turnover of brackish water shrimp reached 4.1-4.2 billion USD (up nearly 13% compared to 2021); pangasius reached 2.35 billion USD (up nearly 70% compared to 2021).

However, in 2023, the seafood industry will face many difficulties and challenges. Firstly, difficulty in removing the IUU yellow card. Secondly, according to the latest assessment of the World Bank (WB), global growth will slow down in 2023, thus, affecting all import markets. Along with that is the challenge of standardizing the domestic production process, especially in terms of data to serve the industry's production.

The business representative, Ms. Le Hang, Communications Director of VASEP, said that market advantages in the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 will no longer exist. This is because inflation has heavily affected the world consumption demand , reducing exports in the first quarter of 2023.

“Currently, orders have dropped sharply, many businesses have not received orders for the first quarter of 2023. We also hope that from the second quarter or at least the second half of 2023, the world economy will gradually recover,  market demand will increase, then we will have the opportunity to boost exports again. ", Ms. Le Hang said. She recommended businesses to prepare raw materials and resources, ready to return to production when the market recovers.

The seafood export turnover in 2022 has reached the highest turnover in recent years of 11 billion USD, making Vietnam's seafood industry the third largest seafood exporter in the world. Mr. Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that this result reflects the effort of stakeholders in the supply chain of the seafood industry, including seafood processing and exporting enterprises.

"Export value is estimated at 11 billion USD, a record level in history. This will be the foundation for the Ministry to direct the Directorate of Fisheries in its management tasks in early 2023, when the world economy is forecasted to face many difficulties", emphasized  Mr. Phung Duc Tien.

In 2023, the fisheries industry set the target total aquaculture area of 1.3 million hectares; total seafood production of about 8.74 million tons and export turnover of about 10 billion USD. Mr. Phung Duc Tien said that the economy in general and fisheries in particular have faced difficulties since August 2022. On the basis of analyzing the achieved results, difficulties and challenges that the industry will face, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will direct the Directorate of Fisheries to implement solutions close to the actual situation to ensure sustainability and growth momentum to reach set export turnover.

At the same time, Deputy Minister Tien requested the fisheries industry to continue to strengthen the work of information and communication to the fishing community, businesses and related parties to stay fully, accurately and timely updated about the situation of combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. In addition, the industry should consider the IUU "yellow card" as an opportunity to change mindsets and develop more sustainably.

Compiled by Thuy Linh