Nine-month seafood exports estimated at 6.4 billion USD

Shrimp processed for exports (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Seafood export value in the first nine month of the year was estimated at 6.4 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 7.2 percent, according to the Department of Farm Produce Processing and Market Development under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The US, Japan, China, and the Republic of Korea remained the four largest seafood importers of Vietnam, accounting for 54.1 percent of the total value. Meanwhile, strong increase was seen in the seafood shipments to the Netherlands (28.2 percent), Hong Kong (23.6 percent) and the UK (19.9 percent).

During January-September, Vietnam spent 1.26 billion USD purchasing seafood from foreign countries, up 21.3 percent from the same time last year.

The department also gave positive outlook for seafood exports in the end of the year as the US Department of Commerce (DoC) decided to lower anti-dumping duties on the imports of Vietnamese shrimp and tra fish.

Last month, the DoC announced the final results of the 12th Period of Review (POR12), lowering the anti-dumping tariff on shrimp imports from Vietnam to 4.58 percent. The final rate is much lower than the preliminary rate of 25.39 percent, first announced by the DoC on March 8.

Also, the US reduced anti-dumping duty on Vietnamese tra and basa (pangasius) fish under its preliminary conclusion of the 14th period of review (POR14). The new duty is 2.39 USD per kilogramme as compared to 3.87 USD per kilogramme in the previous review.

The US Office of the Federal Register published proposed rules on its website, listing Vietnam, China and Thailand as three foreigners qualified to ship catfish to the American country. The proposed rules announced the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) under the US Department of Agriculture’s determination that catfish inspection systems of the countries be equivalent to those in the US. The proposals are open for public comment for 30 days. However, further inspections will be carried out for Thai and Chinese systems. 

In addition, demands for shrimp and tra fish are forecast to advance by leaps and bounds in the end of the year. Vietnam will gain competitive edge over its competitors-Thailand and India whose shrimp productivity is on the decline.

The MARD has ordered the seafood sector to channel focus to remove “yellow card” to bolster exports to the EU market, instruct localities to enhance fishing management, inspect efforts to fight illegal fishing, and direct shrimp and tra fish production in the Mekong Delta region.