On morning of November 1, Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) reported that seafood exports in October increased sharply again to reach 1 billion USD, a welcome milestone for Vietnamese seafood enterprises. Accumulated to the end of October 2024, seafood exports reached 8.27 billion USD, up 11.4% over the same period in 2023.
According to Ms. Le Hang - Director of Communications of VASEP, in context of strong increase in demand for seafood imports from key markets, Vietnam's exports recorded impressive growth in October.
In particular, exports to China and Hong Kong (China) exploded with an increase of 37%, affirming its position as the largest market and having the fastest growth rate in the month. Other markets were equally vibrant: Exports to the US increased by 31%, Japan increased by 22%, the EU increased by 27%, while South Korea increased more modestly by 13%.
By the end of October, total value of seafood exports to China, Hong Kong (China) and the US had reached 1.5 billion USD. Notably, the strong growth trend from China and Hong Kong (China) is likely to surpass the US in the last months of the year, if 20% growth momentum of the past 10 months is maintained. If this growth rate continues, China and Hong Kong (China) could become the largest import markets for Vietnamese seafood by the end of 2024.
“Although European economy is recovering more slowly than the US and China, positive signals from seafood consumption and import prices are gradually recovering, showing a positive outlook for Vietnamese businesses. By the end of October 2024, exports to the EU had increased by 11% compared to the same period last year,” said a representative of VESEP.
In contrast, exports to Japan and South Korea only achieved modest growth of 1.5% to 2%. Factors such as prolonged inflation have greatly affected consumer demand in these two markets. Japan, once one of Vietnam's top two import markets, has dropped to third place in 2024, with a turnover of 1.25 billion USD in the first 10 months of the year, while South Korea only reached 646 million USD.
In that context, shrimp and pangasius are two items with greater growth potential in 2024. By the end of October 2024, shrimp exports had reached more than 3.2 billion USD, up 13%, while pangasius was nearly 1.7 billion USD, up 10%. In October alone, shrimp and pangasius exports had a strong breakthrough, with increases of 26% and 24% respectively, far surpassing tuna and octopus.
“Good news for Vietnamese shrimp industry is that on October 22, 2024, the US Department of Commerce announced preliminary countervailing duties (CVD) on shrimp imported from Ecuador, India and Vietnam, in which tax rate for Vietnamese shrimp is 2.84%, significantly lower than 4.36% for India and 7.55% for Ecuador. This is an important competitive advantage for Vietnamese shrimp in the US market.
Although shrimp and pangasius industries are in the peak import season, they are still facing a shortage of domestic raw materials. Enterprises need to be more flexible in using reserve raw materials and alternative sources of supply to make the most of market opportunities,” said a representative of VESEP.
In seafood product group, crabs and shellfish have maintained strong growth momentum since the beginning of the year. In October, crab and other crustacean exports increased by 58%, while shellfish increased by 138%. In the first 10 months of the year, these two product groups achieved revenue of 267 million USD and 173 million USD, respectively, up 66% and 58% compared to 2023. With a decrease in seafood imports from the US, especially high-end products, China increased imports from Vietnam, creating opportunities for these two product groups. Although tuna and squid and octopus exports recorded positive growth in October, they tended to slow down compared to the first half of the year due to the impact of regulations in Decree 37 on regulations for controlling exploited seafood, causing work of certifying and certifying seafood at many fishing ports to stagnate. As for skipjack tuna - main raw material for canning - it is completely blocked from exploitation stage, because fishermen are afraid of violating regulation on minimum size of skipjack tuna of 0.5m or that the fish caught will not be sold to processing factories for export.
"Seafood exploitation industry is anxiously waiting and hoping for more positive results after the EU's IUU inspection program scheduled for November 2024. If scenario is favorable, it is hoped that tuna exports this year can reach a target of 1 billion USD like in 2022", emphasized a representative of VESEP.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn