Vietnam’s shrimp sales rebounded thanks to a rise in demand from the main importing market, while the world shrimp price inched up and the exchange rate of the euro and Yen increased against the USD.
In Vietnam’s shrimp export structure, shipments of whiteleg shrimp still accounted for the highest proportion of 65%; black tiger shrimp with 24% and marine shrimp with 11%. The share of whiteleg shrimp exports in Jan-Sep this year increased to 65% from 61% in the same period of 2016, the proportion of marine shrimp increased to 11% from 8%, but the proportion of balck tiger shrimp decreased to 24% from 31%. Exports of whiteleg shrimp valued at US$1.8 billion; increased by 28.4% while those of black tiger shrimp reached US$652.4 million; down 5.4% year on year. Of that, sales of processed black tiger shrimp decreased by 27.7%; those of fresh/ frozen/frozen other shrimp increased by 179.4% over the same period of 2016.
In the first 9 months of this year, Vietnam shrimp was exported to 93 markets compared to 85 markets in the same period in 2016.
Top 10 main importing markets included the EU, Japan, China, the U.S, South Korea, Canada, Australia, Canada, Taiwan, Switzerland; accounting for 96.6% of the total shrimp export value of Vietnam.
In the period, exports to 5 main markets increased by 2 digits except for the U.S (-6.3%). The top five importers have changed, the EU became the leading market of Vietname shrimp, Japan ranked the second, China ranked the third, and the U.Ss dropped to the 4th rank.
EU
According to the data of Vietnam Customs, in the first 9 months of 2017, the EU became the largest importer of Vietnam shrimp. Shrimp exports to the EU in this period reached US$583.9 million; increasing by 35.4% over the same period of 2016.
Exports to the three leading shrimp buyers in the bloc (the Netherlands, the UK, Germany) showed the positive growth. Exports to the Netherlands and the UK increased by 60.7% and 46%, respectively. The export value of Vietnam shrimp to the EU tended to rise as the EU consumers favor value-added seafood products and increase imports to meet year-end festivities.
EU is increasingly preferring eco-shrimps – items that Vietnam’s shrimp companies are promoting in recent years. In addition, the EUR went up against the USD which also boosted imports into the EU.
In the first half of this year, EU shrimp imports from other suppliers including Vietnam benefited from the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Ecuador and the EU. Each year, the EU imports about 40,000 MT of whiteleg shrimp with zero tariffs under the tariff quota system. Thanks to the FTA with Ecuador, other suppliers, including Vietnam, will have the opportunity to supplement the 0% quota. This is also a factor helping to promote shrimp exports to EU.
In addition, the EU is stepping up inspections of shrimp lots from India and tends to reduce shrimp imports from this exporter. While India was Vietnam’s main competitor in the EU market, imports into the EU from Vietnam expected to rise to offset the decrease in imports from India.
Japan
Japan ranked the second with the export turnover of US$513.5 million, up 26% over the same period last year. Demand for seafood imports including shrimp in Japan from 2016 to now continuously increased. Thanks to a rise in Japanese Yen and demand for seafood in Japan as well as an improvement in quality and processing methods of Vietnam’s enterprises facilited exports to the market.
China
China was the third largest shrimp exporter of Vietnam, recording the highest growth in QIII/2017 with the 3-digit growth rate. Exports to the market in this quarter reached US$217.2 million, up 105.2%. The figure in Jan-Sep 2017 was over US$500 million, up 54.7%.
China’s shrimp output was on the downward trend in recent years, while the import demand for domestic consumption and processing and re-exporting increased. This was the potential importer of Vietnam in the period.
Thanks to a rise in demand for festivals at the end of the year, Vietnam’s shrimp exports in the QIV/2017 expected to continue the remarkable increase.