According to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, in May 2024, the country's seafood export are estimated to reach 870 million USD, up over 7% over the same period last year. In particular, tuna and crab export continued to grow strongly, while pangasius, squid, and octopus export increased slightly. Shrimp export were slightly lower than the same period last year. In the first 5 months of this year, seafood export reached 3.6 billion USD, up 6.5% over the same period in 2023.
In May 2024, tuna export increased by 36% to over 95 million USD, of which canned tuna products increased by 18%, bagged tuna increased by more than 3.5 foldtimes, frozen loin/fillet tuna increased by 25% and frozen whole tuna increased by nearly 7 foldtimes compared to May 2023. Accumulated to the end of May 2024, tuna export reached nearly 397 million USD, up 25% over the same period in 2023.
Crab export in May increased by nearly 92% to over 26 million USD. In the first 5 months of the year, crab export reached 101 million USD, up 84%, mainly due to crab products increasing more than 2 foldtimes compared to the same period. Two largest markets, China and Japan, both increased their crab imports from Vietnam.
Out of which, China is the largest consumer market of live crabs from Vietnam, with an import increase of 11 foldtimes compared to the same period in 2023. For the Japanese market, Vietnam mainly exports finished snow crab products: snow crab meat, shelled snow crab, snow crab claws and a small part of ground field crab...
Pangasius export increased by 10% and export of squid, octopus and other fish species increased slightly by 3% in May. In the first 5 months of this year, pangasius exports brought in nearly 755 million USD, up slightly by 3% compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, marine fish exports decreased by 3% to 742 million USD, octopus and squid exports reached 236 million USD, down nearly 2% compared to the same period last year.
In May 2024, shrimp export alone decreased by 1.5% to 326 million USD, but cumulative growth rate in the first 5 months of the year was still 7%, reaching 1.3 billion USD.
Although there has not been a strong breakthrough, in general, major markets have shown signs of gradual recovery in both demand and import prices. Accordingly, seafood export to the US, Japan, EU and South Korea all grew positively in May with an increase of 5 - 26%, while export to China decreased by 8% compared to the same period.
By the end of May, the US was still leading with a growth rate of 13%, reaching 635 million USD in seafood imports from Vietnam. Export to Japan, China, South Korea and EU grew only modestly by 3-4% compared to the same period in 2023.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn