March 28, 2014

 

Vietnam's seafood export up 57% in February

 

 

Vietnam's seafood exports reached US$458 million in February of this year, up nearly 57% on-year, Vietnam Customs stated.

 

Apart from tuna, which saw drop of 156%, sales of other aquatic species got rise in export value: shrimp up 156% (thanks to a rise of 305% in white-leg shrimp exports), pangasius up 31%, cephalopod up 23%, reports VASEP.

 

Exports of white-leg shrimp continues growing considerably this year, as Vietnamese farmers expanded lands for the species farming after bumper and profitable harvests in 2013.

 

Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) reports that the production of brackish water shrimp is better than the previous months. Many provinces in Mekong Delta increase superficies for shrimp breeding.

 

In the first quarter of 2014, some provinces got high shrimp output: Kien Giang (black tiger shrimp: 82,046 hectares, 2,331 tonnes; white-leg shrimp: 804 hectares, 2,038 tonnes), Bac Lieu (black tiger shrimp: 98,889 hectares, 9,608 tonnes; white-leg shrimp: 1,911 hectares, 1,592 tonnes), Ca Mau (black tiger shrimp: 263,735 hectares, 20,460 tonnes; white-leg shrimp: 3,000 hectares, 8,540 tonnes).

 

Through February 2014, Vietnam exported US$497 million of shrimp products, up 105% on-year. Earnings from sales of white-leg shrimp products were US$303 million, up 228% on-year. Black tiger shrimp items brought back US$161 million, up 27%. 

 

Pangasius saw a strong recovery in February, increasing the year-to-date exports by 8.5% on-year to US$275 million. In first quarter 2014, land for pangasius production in Mekong Delta is expected to be 5,400 hectares, providing total output of 382,000 tonnes.

 

Most main producing provinces reported downing fish aquaculture, including Vinh Long with 421 hectares (-2.3%), Dong Thap with 1,052 hectares (-2.9%). However, some of them had higher pangasius output: Dong Thap 57,633 tonnes (+7.3%); Can Tho 15,920 tonnes (+58.41%).

 

Though fishermen saw positive signs in fishing activities in the first months of the year with high fish catches, landings of tuna – the key marine fish for export - went down. Through March 2014, fish catches were estimated to reach 686,000 tonnes, up 5.4% on-year. Phu Yen caught 13,100 tonnes, down 1.9%; 1,700 tonnes of which were ocean tuna, down 40.4%. Binh Dinh caught 33,600 tonnes, up 18.3%; 2,237 tonnes of which were ocean tuna, up 7.4%. Khanh Hoa got 15,018 tonnes, including 1,866 tonnes of tuna.

 

Tuna sales abroad decreased 25% on-year to US$73 million through February. The strong drop was seen in fresh/frozen tuna of HS03 (-53% in February; -34% in the first two months of 2014).

 

The March seafood exports are expected to keep steady growth, as sales of white-leg shrimp and pangasius are recovering. Sales of raw tuna continue to fall down due to lower landings.