Seafood exports hit over US$6.7 billion
(vasep.com.vn) According to Vietnam Customs, the country’s seafood exports in 2013 hit US$6.7 billion, up 9.6 percent year-on-year. The figure included shrimp sales of over US$3billion, up 39 percent year-on-year; pangasius sales of US$1.76 billion, up 1 percent; tuna export turnover of US$527 million, down 7.2 percent and US$448 million of cephalopod exports, down 11 percent.
The increase in 2013 seafood exports was mainly attributable to surge in shrimp sales, making up 46 percent of the country’s total seafood exports. Among total shrimp sales, whiteleg shrimp sales reported the highest growth of 113 percent to reach nearly US$1.6 billion while black tiger shrimp sales rose only 6.2 percent to touch US$1.3 billion.
In 2013, the U.S. surpassed EU to be the largest importer of Vietnam seafood with total import value of US$1.5 billion, rising 27 percent over 2012 and making up 22.6 percent of Vietnam’s total fish exports.
In the second half of 2013, seafood exports to EU started to recover mainly thanks to rise in shrimp exports. As a result, seafood exports to the market in 2013 obtained US$1.18 billion, up 4 percent.
Seafood exports to Japan in 2013 showed a slight growth of 5 percent to reach US$1.15 billion. Seafood exports to other markets remained stable or rose softly, except for Mexico with the fall of 2 percent.