According to the preliminary statistics figure of the General Department of Customs, Vietnam’s seafood imports decreased for 2 consecutive months, in August of 2019, it decreased by 19.5 per cent compared to July of 2019, and in September of 2019 it decreased by 6 per cent compared with August of 2019 to 130.64 million USD. However, in the first 9 months of 2019, Vietnam’s seafood imports still increased slightly by 4.8 per cent in turnover over the same period last year, reaching over 1.32 billion USD.

The major markets supplying seafood to Vietnam include: Norway, India, Southeast Asia, China and Japan; in which the imports from Norway increased sharply by 22 per cent over the same period of 2018, reaching 158.91 million USD, accounting for 12 per cent of the country's total seafood import value. In September of 2019, the country’s imports of seafood from Norway decreased sharply by 23.7 per cent compared to August of 2019, reaching only 13.19 million USD, but still up by 6.3 per cent compared to September of 2018.

The imports of seafood from India dropped sharply by 45.1 per cent year – on – year to 148.76 million USD, accounted for 11.3 per cent of total seafood import value of the whole country.; In particular, in September of 2019, it increased by 7.4 per cent compared to August of 2019, but plummeted by 36.2 per cent compared to September of 2018, reaching 13.39 million USD.

The imports of seafood from Southeast Asia market in the first 9 months increased sharply by 34.7 per cent over the same period last year, reaching 144.56 million USD, accounting for 10.9 per cent of the total seafood import value of the whole country. In September alone, the country’s imports of seafood increased by 35.4 per cent compared to August of 2019 and by 30.4 per cent compared to September of 2018, reaching 18.44 million USD.

Seafood imports from China market in September of 2019 increased by 18.4 per cent compared to August of 2019, reaching 12.06 million USD, bringing the turnover of the first 9 months of this year to 103.23 million USD, up by 19.9 per cent over the same period last year; while the imports from Japan increased by 20.6 per cent to 97.89 million USD; and the imports from Indonesia increased by 22.6 per cent, reaching 82.36 million USD.

In the first 9 months of 2019, only 3 seafood import markets decreased in value over the same period last year: the imports from Chile decreased by 10.5 per cent, reaching 45.49 million USD; from India - decreased by 45.1 per cent, reaching 148.76 million USD; from Taiwan - decreased by 2.1 per cent, reaching 80.22 million USD. Meanwhile, the imports from other markets saw increase in turnover over the same period of 2018. The imports from the Philippines increased by 151.6 per cent, reaching 19.23 million USD; from the US - increased by 63.5 per cent to 67.58 million USD; from Thailand - increased by 40.3 per cent, reaching 20.82 million USD; from Malaysia - increased by 31.4 per cent, reaching 7.56 million USD.