Vietnamese clam exports gross nearly US$79 million

Specifically, Vietnamese export turnover of shellfish products dropped by 12% to US$127 million compared to the previous year. The country’s main exported shellfish species include clams, accounting for 62%, snails at 12%, oysters at 11%, and scallops at nearly 9%.

Clams are the mollusk product which posted the largest export turnover of roughly US$79 million, down 17% compared to 2022.

This decline can be attributed to a plunge in exports to the two main markets, namely Spain and Italy with respective falls of 15% and 36%.

Meanwhile, frozen steamed clams coded HS 16055600 were the main export product, earning a turnover of US$72 million.

Most notably, Vietnamese frozen steamed clams always ranked in the leading position in terms of the European market, with the products holding a dominant market share of between 40% and 80%.

The United States remained the fourth largest importer of Vietnamese clams, but recorded a drop of 16% due to fierce competition from China.

Among the country’s top 10 largest clam export markets, China and Cambodia witnessed robust growth of respective increases of 34 times and 16 times compared to 2022. Oysters also witnessed breakthrough export growth of 56% with over US$14 million, mainly fresh and chilled oysters.

In particular, the Taiwanese market alone consumed over 77% of Vietnamese oyster exports with a value of nearly US$11 million, up 26% compared to 2022.

Last year saw the nation export snail products worth nearly US$16 million, down 6% from the previous year with the main consumer markets, including Japan, the US, China, and the Republic of Korea.

Accordingly, snail exports to most markets fell, with the exception of the Republic of Korea which saw impressive growth of 47%.