Vietnam's export turnover of basa fish to Egypt is likely to increase to US$300 million this year, given Egypt's current level of demand and population.

 

With a population of 80 million, Egypt is a large potential export market for Vietnam. However, Vietnam's export turnover to this market far from matches its potential.

 

Vietnam's seafood exports to Egypt reached US$68 million in 2008, US$60 million in 2009 but only US$12.2 million in the first four months of this year. The sharp drop is due to disinformation spread about Vietnam's basa fish by the Egyptian media in late March 2009. However, the product is still very sought after by many markets but the consumer power remains low while the demand is still high.

 

Fish and seafood is a long-standing favourite dish in Egypt but domestic sources of supply from big lakes and the Nile River fail to meet the domestic demand for different kinds of seafood. Therefore, Egypt has to import a large volume of seafood from abroad such as cuttlefish, shrimp, basa fish and sea crab. Vietnam mainly exports shrimp and basa fish fillets to Egypt.

 

In early 2009, before the misleading information about Vietnam's basa catfish was released, Vietnamese basa products were available everywhere in Egypt, big and small supermarkets, markets and retail shops.

 

Currently, the product still can be seen in major supermarkets such as Carefour, Metro and several wholesale markets and it is also available daily in five-star hotels in Egypt.

 

The Director of the Al Hamd Company, Abdal Rahman Abu Shamah, said that Vietnamese basa fish ranks first among different kinds of fillet basa products in the Egyptian market. "My company imports between 30-40 tonnes per month and distributes to supermarkets, shops and big hotels in Egypt. We are expecting to increase our import volume by 20 tonnes per month in the near future," says the director.

 

The Vietnamese Trade Counselor to Egypt, Dang Ngoc Quang said that to raise the export turnover of seafood, exporters need to ensure quality and advertise more in the Egyptian market to win its consumers' trust.