Offshore fishing vessels have been told to closely follow Vietnamese and international fishing regulations to help remove the European Commission's yellow card – a warning given to nations at risk of being deemed uncooperative in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam will have more opportunities to boost shrimp exports to the EU after the Vietnam Free Trade Agreement with the European Union (EVFTA) takes effect.

With the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific (CPTPP) officially coming into force, Vietnamese exporters should make the most use of the opportunities it brings in Japan, one of Vietnam’s leading trade partners.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) As of the first half of May, 2019, Pangasius export value to EU market reached US$105.2 million, up 31.5% over the same period in 2018. In particular, exports to the four largest single importers all went up. The Netherlands increased by 12.2%; England climbed by 59.4%; Germany lifted by 61.6% and Belgium increased 63.8% over the same period last year. Thus, from the beginning of 2019, pangasius exports to EU has shown signs of clear growth after a long period of continuous decline.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and 28 EU Member States (EVFTA) is a new generation trade agreement, forecasting to bring more opportunities for Vietnam's tuna industry to penetrade markets. When EVFTA takes effect, Vietnam's tuna products shall have tax advantages compared to some other rival countries such as Thailand and China. These countries are holding large export market shares in the EU. However, both of them have not signed an FTA with the EU.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) On June 8, in Binh Dinh province, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam coordinated with Binh Dinh Provincial People's Committee to organize a 5-year summation meeting to evaluate implementation a pilot project on fishing, collecting, processing and consumption ocean tuna value chain.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) According to the Directorate of Fisheries (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), since the beginning of the year, the total output of fishing in the whole country has reached more than 1.5 million tons, an increase of about 6%. The reason was that the weather in the first 5 months of 2019 was quite favorable and the northeast monsoon winds earlier this year in the waters of Gulf of Tonkin and Central Vietnam did not have big impact on fishing trips.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In the first four months of 2019, Vietnam shrimp export value reached US$848.4 million, down 16.7% compared to the same period of 2018. In the context of shrimp export declined, trade preferences in the Free Trade Agreements becomes quite important. The Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP) took effect from the beginning of 2019. In addition to the challenges posed, there have been some certain positive impacts on Vietnam shrimp exports to other countries.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In 2018, the value export of pangasius to the market of 10 countries CPTPP reached US$328.3 million, up 17.3% over the previous year. In particular, the export value to most countries achieved positive growth, except for the two Mexican markets which decreased by 4.65% and Peru declined by 19.6%.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In March 2018, the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP) was officially signed by 11 members, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam. This agreement has been ratified by 7 member countries, including Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, New Zealand and Vietnam and has been in effect since December 30, 2018. Most of these markets are not big markets for Vietnamese tuna so CPTPP has not brought advantages for Vietnam tuna industry.