December 7, 2012

Vietnam's top pangasius exporters have earned a total of US$889.8 million during the period of January-October 2012, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

VinhHoan Corp remained the leading exporters with more than US$129.3 million in sales, followed by Hung Vuong Corp in second place with US$97.47 million and Agifish in third place with US$79.26 million.

Ranking fourth is Anvifish with US$70.2 million, fifth is Navico with US$45.9 million and sixth is IDI Corp with US$44.6 million in sales. In seventh place is NTSF Seafoods with US$44.4 million, followed by Cadovimex in the eighth spot with US$36.96 million, CL-Fish Corp in the ninth spot with US$36 million and Dathaco in tenth place with US$34.82 million in revenues.

In spots 11 through 20 are South Vina, HungCa Co, HTFood, Caseamex, Bien Dong Seafood, An Phu Seafood JSC, Godaco, Hoang Long Seafood Co, Ltd, CuuLong Seafood JSC and AquatexBentre.

In October, pangasius exporters sent products abroad for over US$162.7 million, down 4.6% from October 2011. Exports to most key markets saw a decline in revenue during this period.

The EU was the leading importer of Vietnamese tra with US$40.6 million, down 10.8%, and accounting for 25% of exports. The US imported US$27.4 million, down 20.9% and constituting 16.8% of sales overseas.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries imported US$8.76 million worth of pangasius, representing a drop of 5.4%, while shipments to China and Hong Kong increased by 21.9% to US$6.8 million (but represented only 4.2% of Vietnam's total earnings).

Mexico imported US$10.9 million worth of pangasius, up 6.6% and taking up 6.7% of the market. Brazil imported US$10.8 million in tra shipments, up 18% and representing 6.6% of sales.

Meanwhile, raw fish prices have been climbing and pangasius feed prices jumped three times between July and September -- by nearly 40% -- and are expected to keep escalating. Exporters have also been struggling with the lack of capital for maintaining operations and sluggish demand from buyers, factors which made sales in the third quarter of the year drop by more than 10% to US$439 million on-year.

In the first three quarters of the year, fish exports reached US$1.29 billion, down 1.8% on-year. But sales are expected to bounce back in Q4 and total annual revenue of US$1.8 billion, just like in 2011.