Free trade deals push seafood shares up

Hanoi – Seafood shares advanced in the first half of the year as the freshly signed EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) have positive impacts on the business results of seafood exporters, according to insiders.

Tra fish processed for exports (Photo: VNA)

High expectations for benefits from the trade deals helped seafood stocks shoot up during the January-June period.

The strongest surge was recorded in the value of Camimex Group Joint Stock Company’s shares coded CMX. They were sold at 25,900 VND (1.12 USD) per share at the end of the trading session on July 24, up 75 percent as compared to the beginning of the year.

Many other shares in the industry like SJ1, SEA, AAM and ACL had their prices increase from 21-50 percent.

Particularly, Mekong Fisheries Joint Stock Company recently announced it achieved 103.7 billion VND in revenue, and 8.5 billion VND in pre-tax profits, accounting for 47 percent and 106.3 percent of the yearly plan, respectively. The price of its shares, coded AAM, also surged 12 percent since the year-beginning.

Meanwhile, SJ1 of Hung Hau Agricultural Corporation rose 46 percent to 18,300 VND at the closing session on July 24.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the EVFTA and CPTPP will serve as a boon for the seafood sector to thrive in the coming time. 

With 11 members, the CPTPP will help Vietnamese seafood further reach out to the markets of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and Singapore as taxes levied on the products are reduced to zero.

The sector is expected to win big from the EVFTA when nearly 50 percent of the tax lines currently imposed on Vietnamese goods at up to 22 percent will be cut to zero percent.

Securities analysts said besides benefits in taxes and competitive capacity, the pacts will help Vietnamese exporters expand their markets as well as better production technologies and product quality. The moves are hoped to create impetus for seafood shares in the coming time.

However, local firms must get ready for playground of large fish or they will lose the game. Experts suggest they channel focus on improving products’ origin traceability, as well as ensuring labour and environment standards, and food safety and hygiene to meet stern requirements of the foreign markets.