Momentum for pangasius exports
Statistics from Customs Department show that Vietnam's pangasius exports in August 2025 reached 200 million USD, up 5% over the same period in 2024. In the first 8 months of the year, pangasius export turnover exceeded 1.4 billion USD, 10% higher than the same period last year, reflecting the positive recovery of the industry despite fluctuation in global seafood market.
According to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), one of important factors supporting this growth is effectiveness of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP Agreement). Markets in the bloc such as China and Japan continue to be important destinations with diverse demands from frozen pangasius fillets to processed products.
Along with that, ASEAN market continues to show an increasingly important role in the pangasius export map. In the first 8 months of this year, Thailand imported 52 million USD, up 31% over the same period last year, while the Philippines reached 26 million USD, up 31%. In addition, Malaysia and Singapore also maintained stable growth.
With the advantage of geographical proximity, competitive logistics costs and similarities in consumer tastes, ASEAN region increasingly affirms its important role for Vietnamese pangasius exports. This market helps businesses reduce dependence on distant partners, which are often associated with many technical barriers, while opening up a more stable direction in context of global trade fluctuations.
Ms. Le Hang, Deputy Secretary General of VASEP, emphasized that after more than 3 years of coming into effect, RCEP Agreement has become a new driving force to expand the development space for Vietnamese seafood industry. This agreement creates conditions for businesses to participate more deeply in new value chains and production in the region, helping to improve competitiveness of key export products, including pangasius. According to Ms. Hang, demand for seafood imports in most RCEP member countries is high, while Vietnam currently ranks 3rd in the world in seafood exports with a market spread across 185 countries and territories. It is this resonance that helps Vietnamese seafood when entering the RCEP "playground" as if "given wings", having the opportunity to expand market share, increase exports and affirm its position on the global trade map.
Another important advantage is change in rules of origin. Previously, many free trade agreements required seafood products to be of pure Vietnamese origin to enjoy preferential treatment. However, with RCEP, products grown in Vietnam, even when using imported breeds, are still recognized to enjoy preferential tariffs. This regulation is especially meaningful for businesses exporting to major partners in the bloc such as Japan, Korea or China.
New strategy for Vietnamese pangasius
According to VASEP, positive signals from the beginning of the year are creating conditions for the pangasius industry to aim to re-establish export turnover of 2 billion USD in 2025. However, VASEP also emphasized need to maintain caution, because market still has many potential challenges. Among them are the increasingly tightening of technical barriers by importing countries, increasing trend of trade protectionism, and unpredictable fluctuations in global logistics costs.
At the same time, production costs are also under pressure from rising input material prices, especially fuel and aquaculture feed. Competition with other white-flesh fish species forces Vietnamese enterprises to constantly improve product quality, meet international standards and seek to diversify markets.
VASEP recommends that enterprises should proactively balance output to suit consumption needs, while fully exploiting incentives from free trade agreements to improve competitiveness. Another potential direction is to take advantage of pangasius by-products. Products such as crispy fried fish skin, fish oil, collagen, gelatin, fish meal or animal feed are gradually becoming a trend with high added value. In fact, some Vietnamese enterprises have successfully exported fish skin to Japan, earning many times more than raw fish, showing great room to expand the deep processing sector and increase economic efficiency for whole industry.
Sharing the same view, agricultural expert Hoang Trong Thuy said that, in order to move towards sustainable development, the Vietnamese pangasius industry needs to focus on improving farming standards according to international standards such as ASC, BAP, GlobalGAP, thereby meeting the increasingly strict requirements from major import markets.
In addition, promoting deep processing is a necessary direction to increase added value for products, reducing dependence on raw exports which are easily affected by price fluctuations and technical barriers. Mr. Hoang Trong Thuy also emphasized the importance of building a Vietnamese pangasius brand associated with factors of quality, nutrition and food safety, creating a prestigious image in the international market.
"The industry needs to focus on developing the domestic market, turning pangasius into a familiar product in Vietnamese meals. This is both a way to expand output and a sustainable foundation to affirm the value of products right at home before reaching out to the world," said expert Hoang Trong Thuy.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn