Vietnam's pangasius exports navigated a challenging 2024, achieving USD 2 billion in export turnover with steady, albeit slow, growth. Shifts in consumer preferences, market adjustments, and fluctuations in geopolitical factors, including conflicts, freight rates, and tariffs, presented unavoidable obstacles in the current climate.
However, the paramount factor enabling a product to maintain a strong market presence and earn consumer trust remains high quality coupled with reasonable pricing. High-quality finished products stem from sound production and processing procedures adhering to food safety and hygiene standards. To achieve this, harvested pangasius must meet size requirements and be disease-free before entering processing plants. Healthy and carefully selected fingerlings, raised in optimal conditions, determine the final product quality.
The average farming period for pangasius is 10 months, with fish reaching a size of 0.7-1.5 kg/fish, meeting commercial pangasius standards. This extended farming period requires patience, meticulous care, close monitoring of the fish stock, and prompt detection and isolation of diseased fish to ensure sufficient output for processing, production, and export. Thus, farmers are a crucial driving force for increased production and exports. Profitable farming incentivizes expansion of ponds, mitigating the issue of idle ponds.
2025 is considered a pivotal year for Vietnam's seafood export sector, with Vietnamese farmers and fishermen as the core driving force. 2025 also promises to be a year of new milestones for pangasius exports.
Regarding consumption markets, China & Hong Kong remain the leading destinations for Vietnamese pangasius exports. In December 2024 alone, pangasius exports to this market reached over USD 52 million, a 19% increase year-on-year. Cumulative pangasius exports to China & Hong Kong for the entire year 2024 reached over USD 580 million, a slight 1.3% increase compared to 2023.
The US continues to hold second place, after China, among the largest importers of Vietnamese pangasius. In the final month of 2024, pangasius exports to the US reached nearly USD 28 million, a 40% increase compared to December 2023.
Pangasius exports to the CPTPP bloc also recorded 10% growth in 2024, reaching over USD 274 million. Within the bloc, Mexico remains the leading importer of pangasius from Vietnam. In 2024, pangasius exports to Mexico reached USD 76 million, a 4% increase compared to 2023.
Pangasius exports to the EU in the final month of 2024 also reached nearly USD 16 million, an 18% increase compared to December 2023. The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Spain are among the top importers of Vietnamese pangasius within the bloc. However, unlike other countries, pangasius exports to Germany alone witnessed a 2% decrease in 2024, with a value of over USD 37 million.
Furthermore, pangasius export turnover to some other markets also achieved positive results and recorded positive growth, such as Brazil with a 15% increase, Thailand with a 4% increase, and Colombia with a 36% increase.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Speaking at the Opening Ceremony of VIETFISH 2026 on August 19 at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC), U.S. Consul General Melissa Brown highlighted the important role of the exhibition in connecting Vietnam’s growing seafood industry with buyers, suppliers, and partners from the United States and around the world.
(vasep.com.vn) Tomorrow, August 19, 2026, the Vietnam International Seafood Exhibition – Vietfish 2026 will officially open at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC) in Ho Chi Minh City. Taking place over three days, from August 19–21, Vietfish 2026 promises to provide a dynamic platform for business networking, trend updates, product experiences and comprehensive cooperation across the domestic and international seafood community.
(vasep.com.vn) The global tilapia market continues to grow, creating significant opportunities for countries with strengths in aquaculture, processing, and exports. Against this backdrop, Vietnam’s tilapia industry is gradually developing toward higher quality, greater product diversification, and broader market reach. At Vietfish 2026, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), together with the VASEP Tilapia Producers and Exporters Club, will host a joint booth to promote the image and potential of Vietnamese tilapia to domestic and international buyers.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam’s seafood exports are heading towards $12 billion this year, potentially the highest level on record. Yet one of the country’s export strengths is facing a growing list of challenges.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) The first six months of 2026 indicate that Vietnam’s tilapia industry is entering a new phase of development, with strong export growth but also greater demands for production scale, quality and international competitiveness.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietfish 2026, the Vietnam International Seafood Exhibition, will officially take place from 19–21 August 2026 in Ho Chi Minh City. As Vietnam’s largest annual seafood trade event, organized by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Vietfish 2026 will once again bring together leading seafood companies, industry experts, and international partners from across the global seafood value chain.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam’s seafood exports reached USD 1.1 billion in July 2026, up 4.8% compared to the same period in 2025. Cumulative exports in the first seven months of the year totaled nearly USD 6.86 billion, an increase of 11.5% year-on-year. Exceeding the USD 1 billion mark in July further reinforces the prospect that Vietnam’s seafood exports could surpass USD 12 billion in 2026. However, the July figures also send a clear signal that the most favorable growth period may have passed: overall export growth slowed to just 4.8%, pangasius exports fell 6.1%, tuna exports were virtually flat, while exports to the EU, South Korea, and the Middle East all recorded double-digit declines.
(vasep.com.vn) As part of the Vietnam Fisheries International Exhibition (Vietfish 2026), the seminar "Global Seafood Market and the Future Workforce: Trends, Opportunities, and Sustainable Development Pathways for Vietnam's Seafood Industry" will take place from 2:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. on August 19, 2026, at Convention Room B, Level 2, SECC, Ho Chi Minh City. This is the first of five specialized seminars at Vietfish 2026, focusing on key issues that are shaping the long-term development of Vietnam's seafood industry.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnamese seafood exports recorded impressive growth, generating nearly 6 billion USD in revenue during the first six months of the year, up 13% compared with the same period last year.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Fishermen in Ha Tinh are gradually overcoming difficulties to maintain the efficiency of seafood exploitation. In the first six months of 2026, the entire province achieved a production of more than 23,000 tons of seafood, worth more than 1,200 billion VND.
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