Vietnamese seafood exports increase after EVFTA comes into force

Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has said that seafood exports to Europe have witnessed many positive signs since the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) came into effect at the beginning of this month

The number of orders in the European market since the beginning of this month has increased by about 10 percent compared to last month, for shrimp and squid.

Tran Van Linh, chaiman of the board of directors of Thuan Phuoc Seafood and Trading Corporation, said that the company exported 3,000 tonnes of shrimp and products made from shrimp to EU with a value of about USD 31 million, a year-on-year increase of 8 percent in volume and 6 percent in value over the same period last year.

Nguyen Thi Anh, director of Ngoc Xuan Seafood Corporation, shared EU customers had started negotiating orders with the corporation again recently.

VASEP Secretary General Truong Dinh Hoe said: In the context of the COVID-19 epidemic affecting the global economy, the 10% increase in seafood exports is an encouraging number, although it was not before. disease COVID-19, VASEP expected growth figure to reach about 20%, reported by Lao Dong.

Although it had not increased strongly, this was a positive signal for businesses to recover after a long delay and contract cancellation.

Assessing the initial results since the EVFTA's implementation, Truong Dinh Hoe, secretary-general of VASEP, said that the association expected the EVFTA would help seafood exports grow by about 20 percent in the EU. However, an increase of 10 percent was encouraging.

The EVFTA took effect from August 1 and many key products of Vietnam will benefit from this agreement.

Vietnam has advantages in producing and exporting agricultural, forestry and aquatic products while the EU has a great demand for these items with import value accounting for 8.4 percent of the region's total annual import value.

Room for growth in exports to the EU remains huge, Vietnamese businesses can access a huge seafood consumption market with an average consumption of 22.03 kilogrammes per person, 5.34 kilogrammes higher than the world average.