July 22, 2013

The US continues to be the largest importer of Vietnamese seafood,  worth nearly US$500 million in the first five months of 2013, which accounts for 21% of Vietnam's overall seafood exports and representing a 7.5% rise on-year.

According to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), after dropping 6.3% in the first quarter of 2013, with US$237.868 million worth of seafood imports, exports to the US started an uptrend in April and May, mostly due to increase in shrimp and pangasius exports.

In April, shrimp exports rose 27.3%, and pangasius by  31.3%. In May, exports of shrimp and pangasius went up 58.2% and 72%, respectively.

The US was the largest buyer of Vietnamese shrimp and tuna and the second largest buyer of pangasius. However, since the beginning of 2013, exporters were confronted with duty barriers imposed by the US: shrimp products are likely to be imposed with countervailing duty (CVD) by the US. In Department of Commerce's (DOC) determination during the eighth administrative review of the antidumping case on fish fillets, the duty levied was much higher than that of price on request (POR).

During the first quarter of 2013, the US imported over 565,000 tonnes of seafood from various countries for a value of US$3.73 billion, down 1% in volume and 5% in value from those during the same period last year.

The US market can still increase the importation of salmon and tuna as these products are still favoured by local consumers. However, imports of key seafood products, such as shrimp, cephalopod, marine finfish and pangasius, have slowed down.