Vietnam's tuna exports to the European Union surged in July as traders moved to take advantage of the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said in a statement 27 August.
Under the EVFTA, which came into force on 1 August, the E.U. has allocated a tariff-rate quota (TRQ) of nearly 4,792 metric tons (MT) of tuna for Vietnamese exporters until 31 December this year.
As it took at least three weeks for shipments from Vietnam to arrive Europe, exporters from Vietnam shipped large volumes of tuna in July. The cargoes were kept at storage facilities in European ports and were ready for customs clearance to enter the markets from 1 August, VASEP said.
As a result, the value of the tuna exports from Vietnam to the E.U. grew nearly 65 percent year-on-year in July, raising the year-on-year value growth over the period spanning January to July to 20 percent, VASEP said, without providing any export value.
In the month, the export value gained from the Netherlands rose 201 percent year-on-year, followed by a year-on-year increase of 200 percent from Italy and 119 percent from Germany.
Notably, the export value of live, fresh and frozen tuna products to the E.U. in July – excluding frozen tuna loins/fillets under HS code of 0304 – jumped 2,607 percent compared to the same month of 2019. Under the EVFTA, import duty on these products has been removed since 1 August, according to VASEP.
An industry source familiar with the export data told SeafoodSource on 27 August that Vietnam’s tuna export value in July surged for the first time since the last year-on-year increase in February. The country exported tuna worth USD 63.8 million (EUR 54 million) in July, rising 1.8 percent year-on-year, mostly thanks to the massive shipments to the E.U.
The total export value in the first seven months, however, declined 16.9 percent to USD 356.5 million (EUR 302 million).
Vietnam also saw a growth of 146 percent and 26 percent in the value of the tuna exports to Canada and Israel in July, respectively. VASEP said the COVID-19 pandemic has weakened export capacity of many suppliers in other countries, creating opportunities for Vietnamese exporters to win the orders.
Photo courtesy Renata Apanaviciene/Shutterstock
