Image: Stockfile FIS

Vietnam's Seafood Exports to China Surge Nearly Threefold in the First Month of the Year

VIET NAM
Tuesday, February 27, 2024, 07:00 (GMT + 9)

Seafood exports in January 2024 reached nearly 750 million USD, an increase of 64% over the same period in 2023. In addition to the fact that in 2023, Lunar New Year falls in January, if compared from a normal basis, sales in January /2024 is still about 24-25% higher - that is really a positive signal for the opening month of the new year 2024.

In particular, the main products all had a significant breakthrough compared to the same period last year: shrimp increased by 71%, pangasius increased by 97%, tuna increased by 57%, BT squid increased by 45%, other types of fish increased by 50%.

Source: Stockfile FIS

Regarding markets, the most breakthrough growth is China & HK: increased more than 3 times, exports to the US increased 63%, to Japan increased 43%, to the EU increased 34%...

However, looking at the general picture of the market and the seafood industry in 2024, most businesses see many challenges and difficulties that slow down the ability to recover production and exports.

Source: Vasep. Clic on the image to enlarge

Some shrimp businesses said that orders at the beginning of the year have not shown signs of improvement because the market's purchasing power is still weak. There are still problems such as: high inventory, low purchasing price, difficulty competing with Indian and Ecuadorian shrimp...

There are some businesses that see more positive signs in terms of orders, but are worried about raw material sources because it is the off-season and epidemics, so shrimp output is low.

Source: Stockfile FIS -->

Concerns about the risk of anti-subsidy tariffs are also a barrier for US importers and Vietnamese export companies. The selling price of Vietnamese shrimp is still quite high compared to other countries, causing fear among importers.

For the pangasius industry: production and the market are showing slightly better signs. Orders in January and February began to improve, so raw pangasius prices have bottomed out, increasing from 25-26,000 VND/kg in 2023 to 28-29,000/kg at the beginning of this year. However, NK customers are still cautious with the purchase price. Therefore, pangasius businesses also hope that this year's exports will increase slightly compared to 2023, possibly reaching an optimistic figure of 2 billion USD, an increase of more than 10% compared to 1.8 billion USD in 2023.

<-- Source: Stockfile FIS

The seafood industry as well as fisheries in general are being affected by many unpredictable variables such as war, conflict in Russia - Ukraine, Red Sea tensions, and skyrocketing freight rates. In addition, exports of exploited seafood such as tuna, squid, octopus and many marine fish species have almost stagnated due to the IUU yellow card issue along with difficulties in raw material shortages.

Market demand and export prices are predicted to gradually increase. Hopefully, Vietnamese shrimp will not be subject to anti-subsidy taxes and the IUU yellow card will be removed. On that basis, businesses believe that exports may prosper. in the second half of the year and the full year results will grow slightly compared to 2023, reaching about 9.5 billion USD.

Author: Le Hang | Vasep (Translated from the original in Vietnamese)

[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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