Vietnam represents third largest seafood exporter globally

The Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) cited statistics from the General Department of Customs indicating that in July alone, Vietnamese seafood exports reached US$915.9 million, an increase of 17.8% compared to last July. The past seven months of the year witnessed seafood exports hit US$5.32 billion, up 8% on-year.

During the seven-month period, Vietnamese aquatic exports to numerous markets enjoyed growth, with the United States surging by 12.8%, China by 11.6%, the Republic of Korea (RoK) by 3.4%, Australia by 9.1%, Canada by 34.6%, Belgium by 14.2%, and Israel by 42.3%. Elsewhere, exports to the Russian market achieved good growth, up 105% over the same period from last year.

Besides, seafood exports to several other markets also achieved strong growth, such as to the UK, the Netherlands, and Germany.

Export earnings anticipated to fetch US$10 billion

The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) forecasts that seafood exports will continue to encounter plenty of difficulties ahead in the final months of the year.

The world economy has shown many signs of improvement, although the growth rate is slow. Prices of food, energy, and transportation costs all remain high, thereby causing global inflation to cool down, despite price pressure continuing to increase, not reaching the target level that countries desire and potentially recurring again.

However, the positive growth recorded in Vietnamese seafood exports during the reviewed period demonstrates the efforts of businesses in improving product quality, diversifying markets, and adapting to fluctuations in the international market.

The Import-Export Department stated that over the coming months, seafood importers will increase purchases to prepare for holidays and New Year festivals at the end of the year. Therefore, Vietnamese seafood will have more opportunities to increase exports.

Vietnam is currently ranked among the countries with high competitiveness and capacity in the seafood industry. Nguyen Thi Thu Sac, chairwoman of  VASEP and general director of Hai Nam Company limited, commented that in the context of increasingly deep integration into the global economy, Vietnamese trade in general and the seafood industry in particular offer more favourable opportunities for businesses to boost production and increase exports. However, the seafood industry is also facing a series of new challenges in terms of both export markets and internal problems of the industry.

Therefore, connecting businesses throughout the supply chain towards comprehensive development of the seafood industry can be viewed as an issue that has been raised. In addition, it is essential to strengthen trade promotion and product advertising to ensure that buyers have a more general view of the Vietnamese seafood industry.

Local seafood products need to be increasingly diversified to always ensure quality to meet traceability requirements and catch up with global consumption trends, thereby bringing the image of Vietnamese seafood closer to world consumers.

Along with the export market, according to Nguyen Thi Thu Sac, the potential of the domestic market remains very large. To balance supply and demand and reduce dependence on the export market, seafood enterprises need to focus on developing the domestic market, thereby bringing exported seafood products to Vietnamese consumers.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien assessed that the nation boasts huge potential to develop fisheries, especially aquaculture. The country is the third largest seafood exporter in the world, accounting for over 7% of the global market share, behind only China and Norway.

Aquaculture is considered one of the key industries of the country, contributing significant value to the Vietnamese economy, as well as global logistics services.

With the results achieved during the past seven months of the year, the Vietnamese seafood industry is striving to achieve the export target of US$10 billion set for this year.