Vietnam increased its exports of several seafood species to China in the first two months of 2022, despite an intensification of China’s inspection efforts of imported food.
According to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Vietnam shipped seafood worth USD 170 million (EUR 154.6 million) to China (including Hong Kong) over January and February, nearly double what it earned in the same time period in 2021. Pangasius, squid and octopus, and crab exports from Vietnam to China all increased – by 240 percent, 146 percent, and 198 percent, respectively.
Vietnam’s seafood exports to mainland China more than doubled year-on-year to USD 145 million (EUR 132 million), and its sales to Hong Kong surged 46 percent year-on-year to USD 25 million (EUR 22.7 million).
Sales of shrimp from Vietnam to China (including Hong Kong) were worth nearly USD 40 million (EUR 36.4 million) in the first two months of 2022, an increase of 13 percent from a year earlier, including USD 28 million (EUR 25.5 million) sold in mainland China and USD 12 million (EUR 10.9 million) sold in Hong Kong.
The value of Vietnam’s tuna exports to Hong Kong grew 56 percent year-on-year over January and February, but importers in mainland China did not import any tuna cargo from Vietnam in the period, VASEP said.
In 2021, sales of seafood products from Vietnam to China declined 17 percent to USD 1.1 billion (EUR 1 billion), mainly due to China’s strict food-inspection regime put in place as part of its zero-COVID policy.
That policy continues to take a toll on Vietnamese seafood shipments to China. From the start of 2022 until early March, as many as 52 seafood cargoes, sent by 36 Vietnamese companies, were rejected by Chinese authorities between 1 January and 11 March, 2022, with Chinese Customs saying it found traces of COVID-19 not only on the packages but also on the seafood in the containers.
In December 2021 and into this January and February, thousands of Vietnamese frozen seafood containers and others were stranded near the inland border gates with China as China intensified inspections against Vietnamese goods.
Photo courtesy of annaj77/Shutterstock
