January 10, 2017
Vietnam cephalopod exports up 27% in November
Vietnamese cephalopod exports in November increased 27% year-on-year to US$49.05 million, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (Vasep) reported, citing data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs.
For the 11-month period from January to November 2016, exports were down 0.5% to $391.03 million from the same period last year.
In November, Vietnamese cephalopod exports to nine main importing markets all showed growth, with Taiwan having the highest increase (+91.2% valued at $766,000), followed by China-Hong Kong (+70%, at $2.1 million). Exports to the top 3 importing markets (South Korea, Japan and EU) all rose by over 16% year-on-year.
In the first 11 months of 2016, Vietnamese cephalopod exports to South Korea were worth $147.5 million, down 1.4% from the same period last year. However, the North Asian country was the No. 1 importer of Vietnamese cephalopod, accounting for 37.7% of total exports.
The reason the country boosted imports of Vietnamese cephalopod in late 2016 could be partly due to a decline in its fishery production this year, according to Vasep. In the first half of 2016, the output of aquatic products in South Korea dropped 0.6% from the previous year, mainly due to a fall in volume of offshore and inshore fishing.
S. Korea fishery output down
South Korean statistics showed that its total fishery output from January to June 2016 reached 2 million metric tonnes, down from 2.01 million metric tonnes during the same period in 2015. Offshore fishing output touched 208,000 metric tonnes, down 41.3%, while its inshore fishing output hit 363,000 metric tonnes, down 15.6% year-on-year.
Japan's import of Vietnamese cephalopod accounted for 25% of total exports during the period January-November 2016. Japan was the second-largest importer. In November alone, Vietnamese cephalopod exports to Japan amounted to $12.4 million, and in January-November, they were estimated at $97.7 million, up 4.1%, followed by the EU with the value of $60.3 million, up 6.6% year-on-year.
Exports of squid accounted for 58.4% during the 11-month period under review, while those of octopus made up 41.6%. The former amounted to $228.4 million-live/fresh/frozen squid (HS code 03) reached the highest value at $133.5 million, followed by dried/grilled squid (HS code 03) at $81.01 million and other processed squid (HS code 16) at $13.8 million.
Also during that period, Vietnam's octopus exports totalled $162.5 million, of which, dried/salted/live/fresh/frozen octopus (HS code 03) touched $129.8 million and processed octopus (HS code 16) reached $32.6 million.