Shrimp exports reach $1.93 billion in first eight months of 2019

Vietnam's shrimp export turnover in the first eight months of 2019 reached US$1.9 billion, a decrease of 8.1 percent compared to the same period last year, said the Directorate of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development yesterday.

Statistics from the Directorate showed that the country now has 689,516 hectares of shrimp ponds, increasing 0.5 percent year-on-year.

Of 689,516 hectare of shrimp ponds, over 600 hectares are for raising tiger prawn and 88,941 hectares for white-leg shrimps which yielded 444,404 tons, 15 percent higher than the same period last year.

The price of farmed white-leg shrimp fluctuates between VND80,000 and VND 95,000 ($4) per kilogram of 100 shrimps in the Mekong delta while tiger prawn between VND190,000 and VND202,000 per kilogram of 30 shrimps.

Currently, shrimp export has slowed down after July’s export increased by 13.4 percent earning $344 million.

Lately, 31 Vietnamese shrimp exporters have enjoyed zero tariff rate according to a decision of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration. It is expected to help 31 Vietnamese exporters to make breakthrough in shrimp export to the US in the coming time.

Vietnam’s shrimp exports are expected to be strong with positive growth in the EU and South Korea markets after a continuous decline from the beginning of the year. Orders from US partners have gone up because the US cut shrimp imports from India, Thailand and China.

One more thing is that aquaculture season end in India has resulted in a price increase in the world. Meantime, the EU will buy more seafood in the last four months of this year.