Although successively encountering difficulties from importers, so far this year, Vietnam’s seafood export holds its strong position in many markets around the world. According to Vietnam Customs, from January to October 2010, Vietnam has exported over 1.1 million MT of seafood to 158 markets worldwide, worth nearly US$4.04 billion, up 10.8% in volume and 16% in value over the same period last year. In October alone, the country's seafood export reached 133.6 thousand MT, valued at US$532.44 million, up 9.5% in volume and nearly 20% in value over the same month last year. This is the first time in the history of Vietnam's seafood export, monthly export turnover exceeded US$500 million.
EU remains an important and strategic importer of Vietnamese seafood. In the first 10 months of 2010, EU has imported 297.8 thousand MT of seafood from Vietnam, worth nearly US$954.4 million, up 2.6% in volume and 6.8% in value over the same period 2009. Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and France are single importers in EU block with large quantities, respectively 46.5 thousand MT, 55.8 thousand MT, 43.7 thousand MT, 32.9 thousand MT and 22.6 thousand MT. So far this year, the continuous depreciation of the euro against the dollar and the yen has made EU’s seafood orders decline over the same period last year. However, by understanding the needs of consumers, seafood export to this market is still fairly high.
U.S. ranked the second with 124.1 thousand MT, worth about US$776.2 million. Although 2 key items of Vietnam including shrimp and pangasius are subject to antidumping duty when importing into the U.S. market, the growth rate of Vietnamese seafood in this market is still high with 23.5% in volume and 39.5% in value. It is forecasted that the demand and price for seafood of the U.S. in the last months of 2010 will continue to increase.
Together with EU, the U.S., Vietnam's seafood export to Japan in the first 10 months of 2010 has also grown significantly with 22.8% in volume and 19.5% in value.
Shrimp has been the main export item and accounted for the largest share - 41.7% - in the categories of exported seafood products of Vietnam in the first 10 months of 2010. Followed by pangasius although export volume and value increased slightly against the same period last year (+6.7% in volume and +2.4% in value). The demand for pangasius to prepare for the Christmas and New Year in Western countries is growing; however, exporters do not dare to be "risky" to sign more contracts due to the fear of lack of raw materials. Export value of crustaceans, mollusks, tuna, other fish ... also increased over the same period last year.
With such strong growth in October, it is expected that the total seafood export value in 2010 would reach US$4.7 billion, exceeding the target of MARD.