The difficulties of the fisheries industry are forecast to last into 2024

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Enterprises expect exported shrimp products

There are still many difficulties

At the conference of the fisheries industry held last weekend, Ms. Vuong Thi Oanh, representative of the Import-Export Bureau (Ministry of Industry and Trade), said that although the export picture of the seafood industry is improving in 2023, there were still many difficulties. These difficulties are expected to last from now until the end of the year and into 2024.

Specifically, in the second half of 2023, total global output might not increase because demand from the market has not yet shown large growth. China is expected to continue to be a growing market in the second half of the year. Other major markets such as the US, EU and Japan are expected to increase import demand at the end of the year when inventories decrease and major holidays approach.

Vietnam will continue to be a potential supplier to the above markets. However, competition will still increase with countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and China for processed products and with Ecuador for regular products.

Regarding the opportunities of Vietnamese fisheries, Ms. Oanh said that, for many years, Vietnamese fisheries products had competed by processing capacity. This has helped create export products with high value and good prices, overcoming limitations in production and transportation costs.

Along with that, Vietnam has gradually asserted its position with popular products in markets such as Japan, Korea, Australia, UK... and maintained well market share in highly competitive markets such as the United States. and European countries.

“In addition, import demand from many key markets is likely to recover well at the end of the year. Domestic production output is still maintained at a good level”. - Ms. Oanh commented.

Assessing the situation of fisheries export, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said that despite many difficulties in the past two years, it could be said that the fisheries industry was still standing firmly. By the end of October 2023, output reached 7.4 million tons, growing over 3%, while in 2022 the fisheries sector had grown by 4.88%, becoming an important pillar in growth of agricultural sector (with a proportion of nearly 30%).

Exported processed goods increased sharply

According to the assessment of the Vietnam Association of Fisheries Exporters and Producers, positive trends of many fisheries products have been observed this year. Accordingly, a number of marine fish species in product lines that are imported raw materials from other countries for processing and export, include pollock, cod, and amberjack, have higher export results compared to the previous year, showing the diversity of activities and raw material sources of fisheries processing companies, taking advantage of the shift of fisheries processing activities from China to other countries. Accordingly, cod exports increased by 30%, amberjack increased by 50%...

It is clear that in the context of inflation in 2023, demand for popular fisheries products has increased, while high-end seafood has decreased. That is the general trend of most major markets, such as the US, EU, Japan, Korea...

​For the Chinese market, the trend is more positive, after the Covid-19 pandemic ended, trade returned to normal. China's demand for fisheries products is more diverse, serving to different market segments. This market also shows different trends compared to past years. For example, with the boom in the seafood hot pot market, pangasius cooked in pickled mustard green has become popular; Demand for sustainable fisheries is skyrocketing... Many changes in this market make enterprises need to reconsider China as a potential destination with increasingly high requirements for quality and traceability.