June 25, 2013

Vietnam's seafood exports soar in H2 2013

In June 2013, Vietnam's seafood exports totalled US$600 million, which pushes the six-month figure to US$2.8 billion.

The government thus expects that the Vietnamese seafood industry could reach an export value of US$3.5-3.7 billion in the second half of 2013.

Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), expected this year's seafood exports to likely reach US$6.5 billion, up about US$300 million from 2012, despite various export difficulties.

The top 10 main markets were the US, EU, Japan, South Korea, Australia, China, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Brazil, Mexico and Russia, making up the 84% of the country's total seafood exports.

According to VASEP, there were four main factors that led to the 2.6% decline in seafood exports during the first five months of 2013: an instability in raw material supply; lower demand from main importing markets due to the economic downturn; technical barriers and barriers of duty imposed by main importing markets; and many processors suspending their operations or curtail production due to low demand from importers, lack of capital and the state's supportive policies, which have increased production costs.

Although tra and shrimp -- the two main seafood export products -- are up against challenges like the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs set by the US, Hoe said he thinks opportunities for increasing the country's seafood export value still abound. The key is to lower lending rates, letting local firms gain access to low-interest loans.

Tran Van Linh, vice chairman of VASEP, noted that shrimp exports have also been improving. The shrimp farming industry has seen outbreaks of early mortality syndrome (EMS) but has since contained it, said Linh, who is also director of Thuan Phuoc Company in the central province of Danang. He added that Japan, as the second main shrimp importer of Vietnam, has already removed 100% checks on trifluralin imposed on the country's shrimp imports.

Separately, the pangasius industry was happy to hear that the US House Committee on Agriculture has passed the draft agricultural law of 2013 with many revised sections, including the removal of catfish inspections by the USDA.

Although there were on-year drops in tra exports from January to June this year, shrimp and seafood exports all shot up. Tra exports reached US$800 million in the first six months of the year, shrinking 7.3% compared to 2012, while shrimp exports reached more than US$1 billion in value, up 1.5% on-year. Vietnam has exported seafood to 149 destinations so far this year.