Vietnam gains record in seafood export value in 2017
Vietnam gained its highest ever seafood export value of US$8.32 billion in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 18%, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The US, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea were the top four export markets for Vietnamese seafood products, accounting for 55.3% of the total national export value.
Vietnam’s export markets with strong growth in seafood export value included China (up 64.4%), the Netherlands (up 48.6%), the UK (up 36.4%), the Republic of Korea (up 29.1%), Canada (up 22.3%) and Japan (up 20%).
 |
The strong growth in shrimp exports was mainly due to confidence of export markets for Vietnamese shrimp products, said Truong Dinh Hoe, VASEP General Secretary.
Other reasons for strong growth in shrimp exports included an increase of 10% in export shrimp price, higher quality of material and high volume of processed products, Hoe said.
Shrimp export value increased by 60% to China, 42% to the US, 33% to the Republic of Korea and 18% to Japan.
Meanwhile, the export value of tra fish (pangasius) reached nearly US$1.8 billion in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 4% despite difficulties in many export markets.
Vietnam's tuna export value achieved a year-on-year increase of 16% to US$600 million while export value of squid and octopus stood at about US$600 million, gaining strong growth of 42%.
A surprising point regarding Vietnam's seafood exports in 2017 was that China surpassed the US as the top export market of Vietnam's tra and shrimp products.
China was the leading export market of Vietnamese tra fish with a year-on-year surge of 37% in 2017 to US$420 million and the third largest shrimp export market of domestic shrimp products after the EU and Japan. Vietnam gained a year-on-year increase of 60% from the export value of shrimp to China to US$677 million.
VASEP said that China will continue to be an important market for local seafood enterprises in the future because Vietnam's seafood exports to the EU and the US still face anti-dumping tax and technical barriers.
Seafood exports in 2018 are expected to reach over US$8.5 billion, up about 3% compared to 2017, though Vietnam's seafood exports to the US and EU markets will continue to be affected by catfish inspection, anti-dumping and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), according to the VASEP.
To achieve this target, Vietnam must pay attention to antibiotics to ensure quality and competitiveness of Vietnamese seafood material, Hoe said.
The nation should implement traceability for seafood export products of Vietnam as per demand of markets importing Vietnamese products, he said.
Local seafood enterprises should also focus on applying technology in processing seafood products for export to increase added value and competitiveness of Vietnamese products, he said.
The export value of agro, forestry and seafood products reached a record US$36.37 billion this year, a year-on-year increase of 13%, according to the ministry.
The export of major agricultural products was estimated at US$18.96 billion , a year-on-year growth of 15.7% while the export value of forestry products in 2017 was estimated at US$7.97 billion, an increase of 9.2% year-on-year.
Total rice exports for the year reached 5.89 million tonnes, earning US$2.66 billion, a year-on-year surge of 22.4% in volume and 23.2% in value.
China continued to be the largest buyer of Vietnamese rice, accounting for 39.5% of the total exports.
Rubber, tea, cashew nuts and other produce also saw high growth in 2017.
In 2017, rubber exports reached 1.39 million tonnes worth US$2.26 billion, a year-on-year increase of 11% and 35.6%, respectively, in volume and value. China, Malaysia and India were the three largest rubber buyers.
High prices pushed cashew nut exports to 353,000 tonnes worth US$3.52 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1.9% in volume and 23.8% in value. The US, the Netherlands and China were top importers.
This year, the export of tea was estimated at 140,000 tonnes worth US$229 million, up 7.2% in volume and 5.6% in value over last year.
Exports of cassava and cassava products were estimated at 3.95 million tonnes in volume and US$1.04 billion in value for a year-on-year surge of 6.9% and 4.2%, respectively.
However, coffee exports decreased slightly by 20.2% in volume to 1.42 million tonnes and 3.8% in value to US$3.21 billion. Germany and the US were still the top two export markets for Vietnamese coffee.
There was a strong reduction in pepper exports in 2017 because export prices fell sharply by 35% over the previous year. While pepper export volumes surged by 20.5% to 214,000 tonnes, its value fell 21.9% to US$1.12 billion compared to 2016.
