Vietnam saw its seafood production grow in April and the first four months of 2021, with output of all species rising compared to a year ago.
The Southeast Asian nation produced 687,200 metric tons (MT) of seafood in April, up 2.1 percent year-on-year, including 329,600 MT of farmed seafood, 1.9 percent higher year-on-year, and 357,700 MT of wild-caught seafood, up 2.2 percent from a year ago, according to data from Vietnam’s General Department of Fisheries.
In the first four months of the new year, the production was 2.48 million MT, an increase of 2.1 percent year-on-year. Of that total, nearly 1.27 million MT was farmed seafood, going up by 2.8 percent year-on-year, comprising 385,800 MT of pangasius, up 1.6 percent year-on-year; 96,200 MT of vannamei, a growth of 6.5 percent year-on-year; and 62,500 MT of black tiger shrimp, up 1.2 percent from January-April 2020. The country also produced 1.21 million MT of wild-caught seafood in the period, up 1.4 percent from the four months of last year.
Along with the increase in production, Vietnam has also boosted its seafood exports. The country exported seafood worth USD 750.1 million (EUR 613 million) in April, 21.8 percent higher year-on-year, mainly to the U.S., Japan, China (excluding Hong Kong), and South Korea. In the first four months of 2021, Vietnam earned USD 2.5 billion (EUR 2 billion) from seafood exports, up 10.5 percent year-on-year.
Top buyers of Vietnamese seafood thus far in 2021 include the U.S., with USD 483.8 million (EUR 395.4 million) in purchases between January and April, up 28.2 percent year-on-year; Japan, with USD 429.3 million (EUR 350.8 million) in sales, down 1.2 percent from last year; China, which bought USD 253.4 million (EUR 207.1 million) of Vietnamese seafood, up 2.9 percent; and South Korea, which took in USD 228 million (EUR 186.3 million) of Vietnam’s seafood, up 5.4 percent from a year ago. Japan was the only market out of the top four destinations that experienced a drop in sales.
Photo courtesy of Nguyen Quang Ngoc Tonkin/Shutterstock
