UK tops importers of Vietnams prawn in EU in 2016

Prawns are processed in a factory in Vietnam. The UK topped importers of Vietnamese prawns in the EU last year. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The United Kingdom was the largest importer of Vietnam’s prawns in the European Union (EU) in 2016, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

After strong growth throughout 2015 and the first three quarters of 2016, shrimp exports to the UK in the last quarter of 2016 fell by 3.9 percent. Despite that, exports rose by 4.2 percent for the entire year.

In early 2017, Vietnamese shrimp shipments to this market grew well in January and February before declining in March. However, they rebounded in the next two months with year-on-year jumps of 62 percent and 150 percent, respectively. 

Total prawn exports to the UK hit nearly 59 million USD in the first five months of 2017, an increase of 34 percent from the same period last year.

The growth was largely due to the UK’s high demand for warm-water shrimp thanks to reasonable prices and a drop in supplies of cold-water shrimp, VASEP said, predicting the continued expansion of shrimp exports to the UK in the rest of this year.