EU emerges Vietnams No1 seafood export market

The European Union has replaced the United State to become Vietnam’s largest seafood export market, reports from the General Department of Customs showed.

Vietnam’s seafood export to the EU last year reached US$1.46 billion

Accordingly, Vietnam’s seafood export to the EU last year surged by 22 percent year-on-year to US$1.46 billion. In contrast, the product’s exports to the US declined by 1.9 percent to $1.41 billion. This was the first time the EU surpassed the US to become Vietnam's biggest seafood export market. 

Last year also saw Japan, China and the Republic of Korea to be other Vietnam’s large seafood export markets with $1.3 billion (up 18.6 percent), $1.09 billion (up 59.4 percent) and $779 million (up 28.1 percent), respectively.

Truong Dinh Hue, General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP), attributed the decline in the US market to the country’s imposition of technical barriers and high anti-dumping tariffs on Vietnamese fish and shrimp.

After imposing high anti-dumping tariffs on Vietnamese catfish exporters since 2014, the US early last year continuously imposed a new requirement that foreign exporters demonstrate their food safety control system is equivalent to American regulations, creating a new hurdle for Vietnamese companies.

According to VASEP, there are about 14 catfish enterprises exporting to the US market. However, due to the high anti-dumping tax, only three companies of Vinh Hoan Corporation, Hung Vuong JSC and Bien Dong Seafood Company Ltd are significant exporters to this market, while the remaining 11 export small quantities.

This year, Vietnamese catfish exporters are even concerned that they will not able to ship to the US market after the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) decided to impose unprecedentedly high anti-dumping tariffs of US$2.39-7.74 per kilogram on frozen pangasius fillets which were imported from Vietnam between August 1, 2015 and July 31, 2016.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) said that the high anti-dumping duty is unfair and shows unduly excessive protection, calling for the DOC to review the decision.

The difficulties in the US market have spurred Vietnamese catfish companies to seek new customers internationally. In the long run, the businesses say they also need to develop branding and improve the image of catfish in the world market.

Song Tien Seafood JSC and Ngoc Xuan Seafood JSC in the southern province of Tien Giang have also sought ways to export their products to non-US markets, including the EU, China and Middle East.

The company’s director Nguyen Thi Anh said that her companies last year accessed a number of new markets, such as the Middle East, South America and China. Therefore, although the company does not export catfish to the US, its export turnover is stable and growing, Anh added.

As for the EU market, it has been still the strategic market of businesses for many years, accounting for about 60-70 per cent of the total exports, said Anh, adding that to keep the stable volume of customers in this market, the company has focused on investment, ensuring product quality from raw materials to processing.

Insiders also said that Vinh Hoan - one of the three leading Vietnamese companies exporting catfish to the US - are focusing on exploiting newly-emerged markets.

Nguyen Ngo Vi Tam, the company’s General Director, said the company has developed new markets in recent years. It is especially focusing on value-added products.

Tam said the company had installed a production line of grilled catfish products marinated in teriyaki, a Japanese cooking technique, for export to Japan. After years of development efforts, Japanese consumers have started accepting freshwater fish products.