(vasep.com.vn) In first 6 months of 2013, Vietnam seafood exports to Japan reached nearly US$506 million, down 1.3% compared to the same period last year. Although shrimp exports recovered (+about 7%) in QII/2013, deep decreases in tuna and cephalopod exports (17 – 24%) led to a negative growth in the market. Japan ranked the third among top largest importers of Vietnam seafood.
In the first quarter of 2013, seafood exports to Japan reached value of US$211 million, making up nearly 17 percent of Vietnam’s total seafood exports. This is the second largest importer of Vietnam cephalopod as well as the third biggest importer of Vietnam tuna. Since Jul 2012, shrimp exports to Japan have been reducing due to Ethoxyquin barriers and shortage of supply caused by EMS. However, since second quarter, exports of shrimp rebound thanks to improved supply.
In QI/2013, seafood imports from countries in the world into Japan hit US$3.3 billion, down 19.6 percent in exports of almost products compared to the same period of 2012. The sharpest decrease was seen in the exportation of frozen whole round finfish, mainly marine finfish: salmon down nearly 50 percent, big eye tuna down 29 percent, yellowfin tuna down 39 percent, trout down 42 percent, mackerel down 26%.
Steak fillet finfish imports slid 23 percent. Marine finfish imports in all varieties into Japan in 2013 experienced a double-digit reduction while imports of crustacean and mollusk were down less 10 percent. The importation of warm water shrimp (black tiger shrimp and whiteleg shrimp) dropped nearly 15 percent, cold water shrimp down 9 percent. Shrimp imports from Asian countries took a downtrend with two digit reduction, except for Taiwan (+38 percent) while imports from Argentina and Ecuador marked a positive growth of 68 percent and 38 percent, respectively.
Japan’s imports of squid dropped 14 percent while octopus imports were up 20 percent, mainly frozen and dried octopus originated from Morocco, Mauritania, China and Vietnam. Japan’s squid imports from main suppliers (China, Thailand, Morocco and Vietnam) fell deeply.