April 18, 2012

Tuna exporters have showed positive growth in Q1, with the export value of tuna products at US$101 million, up 23.1% over the same period last year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Further, although February usually means low exports, February 2012 had total seafood exports suddenly jump by 65% from February 2011 and 16% from January 2012, after a dip of 16.5% in January 2012.

In February, cephalopod exports saw the highest boom at 88.7% followed by tuna export rise, which was 76.7%. It is expected that in March and April exports of these items will keep soaring; shrimp and pangasius shipments are also foreseen to climb by 75% and 45.7%.

In the first quarter of 2012, Sudan and Tunisia were the markets that grew the fastest for tuna -- shipments to the latter exploded by 809%. To Sudan, tuna exports in January alone were twice as much as the export value of the whole of 2011, swelling by 356.6% and thereby making Sudan one of the top 10 tuna importers of Vietnam.

The major tuna buyers -- the EU, Japan, Switzerland, and Israel -- also saw impressive growth at 36.7%, 90.6%, 96.6% and 95.6%, respectively, according to reports.

In the EU, growth in the German and Italian markets was the most prominent. Germany still remains the biggest importer of Vietnamese tuna, with the growth of 87.8%, while Italy contributed growth of 153%.

Canada also boosted tuna imports from Vietnam after it shifted its imports from low-grade to high-grade tuna.

Conversely, exports fell slightly to the US and Lebanon by 2.9% and 3.6%, respectively.

What has partially solved the shortage of raw materials is the reorganization of tuna fishing stages and the pilot implementation of a new fishing model, which have shown high effectiveness.

Furthermore, the application of the "mother ship-feeder ship" model in certain Vietnamese provinces has bred positive results. In the current context, the model to link seafood exploitation and consumption under deployment in Phu Yen is an economical production method with a closed process from fishing, purchasing and processing to exporting, thus increasing the fish value obtained by fishers.