September 18, 2009

Vietnam is losing Middle Eastern and North African markets due to a media campaign that condemns Vietnam's tra fish as unsafe, according to local media reports.

 

The media in the Middle East and North Africa has posted articles providing unsubstantiated information about Vietnam's tra fish industry.

 

Vietnam has been accused of farming the fish in water that is polluted with high levels of antibiotic residue which can cause cancer.

 

As the result of these media campaigns, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) reports that Vietnam's market share in these areas has dramatically decreased.

 

In 2008, the two markets imported approximately 76,000 tonnes of frozen tra fillets from Vietnam, worth US$193.3 million, or 13.3 percent of the total export value of Vietnam's tra fish. The figure represents an increase in export volume of three times and 2.67 times over the export value of 2007.

 

Exports to Egypt in 2008 grew four-fold in comparison with 2007 and 10-times over 2006, while the exports to Saudi Arabia increased by 119 times in terms of export volume, from 93 tonnes in 2007 to 11,100 tonnes in 2008.

 

Vietnam's exports to other markets also recorded impressive growth rates during the last three years.  Exports to the UAE grew by 11 percent in export volume, those to Jordan expanded 3.1 times and others to Morocco rose 3.3 times.

 

The three key markets - Egypt, UAE and Saudi Arabia - alone consumed 66 percent of Vietnam's total export volume and 60.5 percent of the total value of exports to the region.

 

However, the tra fish exports to the Middle East and North Africa have dropped sharply since April 2009. Tra exports to Egypt fell by 50.1 percent in May, 65.3 percent in June and 42.2 percent in July, compared with the same periods in 2008.

 

Overall exports for the first seven and one-half months to Egypt were only 54 percent of the volume for the same period of 2008.