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Association worried about seafood export decline
The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has estimated that seafood exports by mid March had decreased by 8% in quality and quantity compared to the same period last year.
Statistics show that Vietnam has exported 166,000 tonnes of seafood so far this year, worth $579mil. Meanwhile, the number of export markets has decreased to 122 from 159, and exports to main markets all have decreased, except to China, Australia and ASEAN.
Exports down, down
The global economic recession has led to a lower demand in most key export markets. The value of seafood exported to Europe has decreased by nearly 15%. Japan, though still ranking second among top export markets, has witnessed export value to the market down by 9%.
Meanwhile, exports shipped to the US market have decreased by 3.3% over the same period of last year. Russian authorities closing the doors on Vietnam’s tra and basa also has led to the sharp falls of Vietnam’s seafood exports.
VASEP has seen a worrying decrease in tra and basa exports with the export turnover of $208mil, down by 5% from the same period of last year. Meanwhile, shrimp export turnover was $181mil only, a decrease of 7.3% from last year.
As for cuttlefish and octopus, the exports of these products have decreased by nearly 15% from last year, though signs of recovery were seen in March. As for dried products, the export turnover was $19.2mil, down by 14.3%. Tuna proved to be the product which saw the sharpest decrease, by 40%, with the turnover of $19mil, the lowest in the last four years.
Barriers need to be removed
Despite difficulties, VASEP still hopes to obtain export turnover of $4.5bil in 2009, the same as last year. The reason for the optimistic forecast is that Vietnamese enterprises have been taking initiative in cutting prices and seeking new markets.
Encouraging results have been seen with exports to several markets. Exports to Spain, for example, have seen the growth rate of 5% ($27mil in turnover), while frozen shrimp exports to South Korea increased by 15.8%, reaching $11.5mil in turnover, making South Korea the 5th biggest market for Vietnamese shrimp.
ASEAN has replaced Russia to become the 5th biggest importer of Vietnam’s seafood with the growth rate of 16.1% ($36.2mil in turnover). Shrimp exports to China increased drastically, reaching $12.7mil. The US market, despite a lot of barriers, remains a market with great potential for Vietnam’s seafood products.
According to VASEP, many tra and basa markets have been using communication programmes to provide information that may disadvantage Vietnam’s tra and basa, aiming to protect local production in the current crisis.
The association said that domestic enterprises need to prepare well to deal with the communication campaigns and to protect Vietnamese seafood’s prestige.
Europe proves to be the market which can bring hope to seafood exporters this year. It is expected that from April 20-30, 2009, the EU inspection delegation will arrive in Vietnam to inspect seafood hygiene.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Luong Le Phuong said that the regular inspection plays a very important role in the context of economic recession.
To date, the EU has allowed 301 Vietnamese enterprises to export to the EU, while the upcoming inspection will decide if 30 more enterprises can be allowed to export to the EU
Phuong said that Russia’s market will open again in April.
VietNamNet/TBKTVN
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