The UK seafood industry celebrated a breakthrough on April 1 as Vietnam granted market access for live seafood products, opening new opportunities for growth and trade.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) After three years of implementation, the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) has yielded positive results for Vietnam’s tuna exports. The United Kingdom officially became a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on December 15, 2024. This is expected to bring significant benefits for seafood enterprises, particularly in terms of tariffs and intra-bloc origin regulations - especially for tuna products.

In January 2025, Vietnam's shrimp exports to the UK reached over 16 million USD, an 8% increase compared to the same period last year. The UK is the sixth-largest individual market for Vietnam’s shrimp imports, accounting for 5.5% of the total shrimp exports to various markets. Shrimp also holds the largest share (70%) in Vietnam’s total seafood exports to the UK.

(vasep.com.vn) Vietnam is signatory to three new-generation Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), and specifically with the United Kingdom (UK), maintains two FTAs: the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA). The confluence of content and approaches within these two Agreements fosters a conducive environment for enterprises from both nations to maximally leverage trade and investment opportunities, notably encompassing Pangasius exports to the UK.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam's shrimp exports in the first two months of this year grew well in all major markets such as the US, EU, Japan, Korea, China, UK... In the Russian market, exports decreased due to disruption resulting from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.