Hurdles remain in aquatic export: VASEP

Vietnam ships abroad some 846 million USD worth of aquatic products in August. (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam’s aquatic export recovery has yet to meet expectations although the negative growth rate has been eased, prompting businesses to further explore small markets in order to raise their sales.

The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) reported that the country shipped abroad some 846 million USD worth of aquatic products in August, much higher than that in previous months, pushing the eight-month revenue to nearly 5.8 billion USD.

However, the export market is unpredictable this year, the association said, elaborating that after the value reached 808 million USD in May, it got bogged down in the two subsequent months, which was unusual as compared with previous years.

VASEP’s Communications Director Le Hang explained that the global economic slowdown and high inventories by enterprises have resulted in demand contraction and price competition.

Given export difficulties in such major markets as the US and China, tra fish exporters are pinning their hope on smaller ones like Germany, New Zealand, and Sweden, which saw year-on-year increases of 25%, 17%, and 25% in revenue, respectively.

For shrimp exports, although rosy signs were seen in the US market, the stagnation has remained in the markets of Japan and the Republic of Korea (RoK) since March.

Notably, Vietnam’s tuna exports to the RoK rose impressively, exceeding 7 million USD in the first seven months of this year, a 2.5-fold increase from the same period last year.

Vietnam's canned tuna accounts for nearly 77% of the RoK's total import of this product.

VASEP forecast that the country’s aquatic export revenue will top 9 billion USD this year./.