Vietnam’s government and seafood exporters are worried the rapid spread of the coronavirus outbreak may disrupt global trade in its agro-forestry-fisheries products.
China is the top destination for many of Vietnam’s exports, including seafood, having shipped USD 1.23 billion (EUR 1.12 billion) worth of seafood to China last year, up 23 percent from 2018. In 2019, China became the largest buyer of its pangasius, and it is also a top importer of Vietnamese shrimp.
The Import-Export Department of Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade said 29 January the outbreak of the deadly virus has yet to have a significant impact on the import and export activities between Vietnam and China.
“However, information from China indicates that demand of some agricultural products in China has started to slow due to the complicated development of the epidemic. Due to strict anti-epidemic measures, transportation of goods between provinces and cities across China has become extremely difficult,” the Vietnamese department said.
Most of the border gates in Pingxiang, Guangxi Province, which border Vietnam’s Lang Son Province, would remain closed until the end of 8 February in an effort to prevent the epidemic from spreading, according to the department, which is asking exporters to closely monitor the situation and proactively plan their shipments of agro-forestry-fisheries products.
“If the outbreak prolongs, traffic as well as cross-border transportation of goods between Vietnam and China will surely be affected,” the department said.
The department is recommending Vietnamese exporters immediately change their delivery methods in case their partners are not able to receive goods in China. Businesses from Vietnam are also advised to expand agro-forestry-fisheries exports to other markets or to push to increase domestic consumption to avoid dependence on China.
Exports of seafood products from Vietnam to China mainly travel via land-border gates and ocean shipping. The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has called on authorities to tighten controls over shipments via land borders to prevent fraud. As of October 2019, between 80 and 90 percent of seafood products from Vietnam’s major suppliers were now traveling to China via ocean shipping, with the remainder being shipped by smaller companies via border land gates, VASEP Chairman Truong Dinh Hoe said.
The rapid outbreak of the coronavirus, with an origin tracked to a seafood market in Wuhan, China, has killed 170 people and sickened more than 7,000 in China so far, with dozens more cases confirmed in other countries, including in the United States, Japan, Thailand, and Germany, the South China Morning Post reported 30 January.
The city of Wuhan is a major logistics hub for China’s seafood trade in central China, and the virus hit the market at its busiest time of the year. The city is also central to the trade in freshwater species like crabs given its location in Hubei Province, at the heart of China’s freshwater crustacean industry.
Photo courtesy of Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers
