The seafood companies push export turnover in the last months of the year

	Agro-forestry and fishery exports hit US$32.6 billion over 10 month span
	Demand for Vietnamese seafood on the rise
	Seafood products struggle to land on shelves

The processing of tuna for export. Photo: T.H

Delaying orders because the cost increase of raw materials

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, by the end of September 2018, seafood exports reached USD 6.35 billion, up 5.3% over the same period in 2017. In which, export price to the two largest markets of the United States and the EU, exceeded US $ 1.1 billion. For the three export products, shrimp, pangasius and other fishes, the total reached 2.62 billion USD; $1.59 billion and $ 1.03 billion respectively.

In the export items, Pangasius export turnover has the strongest increase. By the end of September, the export value of Pangasius was USD 1.59 billion, increasing 22.6% and accounting for 25.1% of the total of seafood export value. In the first three quarters of this year, Pangasius was the group of seafood products with the highest growth rate.

According to the companies, the export value of Pangasius in the first nine months of 2018 increased over the same period last year because the export value in many big markets such as China, Hong Kong, US, EU, ASEAN are all positive growth.

Accompanying that is the price of raw materials increased sharply compared to last year. This led to an increase in export prices and an increase in export value. However, at present, the Vietnam Pangasius export company are facing the problem of lack of domestic raw materials. By mid-October, 2018, in some farming areas in the Mekong Delta, the prices of raw material has risen to a record 35,000 - 36,500 VND / kg, higher than the same period from 10,000 to 12,500 VND / kg.

According to the Pangasius processing enterprises for export, the price of raw fish is increasing due to the limited quantity of suppliers, while the demand of processing for export increased sharply. Many enterprises processing Pangasius export are pushing up purchasing to meet the orders and prepare the source of goods to serve the increasing market demand at the end of the year and the beginning of the new year 2019. However, some enterprises are forced to delay some orders because the prices have risen sharply and can’t buy raw material.

Overcoming technical barriers

According to information from enterprises, many big seafood enterprises have sharply increased export volume in the past nine months. For example, Vinh Hoan Seafood Company in the first nine months of 2018, the seafood export turnover reached over 240 million USD, increased over 45 million USD (up over 22%) over the same period in 2017; the seafood export turnover of Bien Dong Seafood Company in the first 9 months of 2018 increased 60 million USD (66% increase) over the same period.

These companies are breaking through technical barriers to boost exports in the last months of the year, because in fact, some key export items decreased. According to the export data of enterprises, in the first 9 months of 2018, tuna exports to the US market decreased, but the export value to other markets such as EU (including Spain and Netherlands) increased sharply, export to Israel, ASEAN and Japan were also positive growth. As a result, during this period, tuna exports remained at good growth compared to the same period last year.

As one of two key export items, by the end of September the export value of shrimp reached $2.62 billion, down 4.1% over the same period last year, accounting for 41.3% of total export value. In the first nine months of this year, the export value of shrimps dropped, it was due to the slowdown in world shrimp prices while shrimp production in many countries was still high. Some countries also offered shrimp with low prices affecting Vietnam’s export. Moreover, during this time, export value of shrimp to some big markets such as the US decreased 3.1%, Japan decreased 11.7% and China, Hong Kong decreased 28.7%. This also affected total value of shrimp exports in the first three quarters of this year.

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According to the analysis of the Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, although seafood export is expected to increase in the last months of the year with the total export value for the whole year increasing compared with 2017, but in each product group, export activities of seafood companies are facing many difficulties due to increasingly difficult trade and technical barriers.

Currently, anti-dumping tariffs imposed on Vietnamese catfish have fallen sharply in the preliminary conclusion of the 14th anti-dumping duty review (POR14) against the POR13, as announced by the US Department of Commerce. In September, more support for Pangasius material increased and more favorable for exporters of catfish to the US. Particularly, when the price of pangasius exported to the US is quite high from 4.6 to 4.8 USD/kg.