Vietnam's seafood exports rise but challenges continue
Vietnam’s seafood exports increased slightly in July but the country is forecast to continue facing challenges, experts told a conference held by the Vietnam Association for Seafood Exporters and Producers in Ho Chi Minh City on August 28.
Shark catfish being processed for export. (Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – Vietnam’s seafood exportsincreased slightly in July but the country is forecast to continue facing challenges, experts told a conferenceheld by the Vietnam Association for Seafood Exporters and Producers in Ho Chi Minh City on August 28.
Seafood exports in the firstseven months raked in 4.7 billion USD,down 0.2 percent from a year earlier, but 9 percent up month-on-month in July.
While exports oftuna and crustaceans such as crab and sentinel crab remained strong,rising by 20.3 percent and 22.7 percent year-on-year, main export items such asshrimp and shark catfish, which account for 60 percent of total exports, weredown from last year.
Shrimp, whichaccounts for nearly 38 percent of exports, recovered in July after a weakperformance since the beginning of the year.
Exports to Japanincreased by 11.3 percent year-on-year, and other markets apart from the European Union (EU) and the Republic of Korea too saw increases. Shipments to China were up dramaticallyin July.
VASEP General Secretary Truong Dinh Hoe saidwhile one of Vietnam's strengths is aquaculture, it still has to import largevolumes of raw seafood for processing and exporting, leading to higher pricesand lower competitiveness. Itimported 1.7 billion USD worthof seafood last year.
Hoe said this is due to many reasons likediseases and climate change affecting supply, inconsistent quality and unstablemarkets.
He also warned thatother countries are becoming more and more successful in farming shark catfishand shrimp, and Vietnam is thus set to face tougher competition.
With shrimp and sharkcatfish exports forecast to fall by 3-4percent this year, VASEP plans to offer more assistance to businesses bypushing for more favourable policies, helping them overcome technical barriers,trade facilitation, and promotion of Vietnamese seafood.
It urged businessesto adopt modern technologies in aquaculture and focus on traceability ofproducts and sustainable development.
Last year, seafoodexports were worth nearly 9 billion USD,a 6 percent increase from 2017 as against a target of 10 percent. The target for this year is 10 billion USD.-VNA
Vietnam’s seafood export turnover in June reached 794 million USD, raising the total value for the first half of the year to nearly 4 billion USD, up 0.3 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Agro Processing and Market Development Authority (AgroTrade).
The seafood industry must envision a long-term strategy to make full use of new trade pacts and prepare for problems that might arise when they take effect, Truong Dinh Hoe, VASEP general secretary, said.
Vietnam’s seafood exports to China are expected to rise in the second half of this year to reach the 1.2 billion USD target for the whole of this year as China’s seafood demand is on the rise, and the escalating US-China trade tension is likely to create as an opportunity for Vietnamese exporters to increase their market share in China.
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Shark catfish being processed for export. (Photo: VNA) 
