Vietnam hopes to boost the value of its seafood exports this year on the back of strong domestic production and new free trade agreements kicking in, according to a 22 February statement from the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
VASEP said it expects Vietnam to pull in USD 8.8 billion (EUR 7.3 billion) from seafood exports in 2021, up nearly 5 percent from last year’s total. The USD 8.41 billion (EUR 6.94 billion) worth of seafood Vietnam exported in 2020 was down 1.5 percent from 2019’s sum.
Global seafood trading will still be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but Vietnam will remain a competitive player in the global market thanks to its ability to ensure uninterrupted production activities, VASEP said. While India, Indonesia, and many other major seafood-producing countries are facing disruptions in their operations, VASEP said it expects packers in Vietnam not to be significantly affected by the virus or its related economic effects.
The trade group said several free trade agreements, including the E.U.-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement UKVFTA, will help Vietnam boost its sales in 2021.
Vietnam produced 8.4 million metric tons (MT) of seafood last year, up 3 percent from 2019, comprising 4.6 million MT of farmed products and 3.8 million MT of caught seafood, VASEP said.
Of that amount, exports of farmed shrimp and pangasius from Vietnam were worth USD 5.2 billion (EUR 4.3 billion), accounting for 61.8 percent of the country’s total export value. Sales of wild-caught seafood reached USD 3.2 billion (EUR 2.6 billion) in 2020, representing more than 38 percent of the total.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the global seafood market in uneven ways. Vietnam’s sales of seafood to the E.U., China, Japan, and South Korea declined by between 3 and 6 percent year-on-year, but its year-on-year sales to the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada rose between 10 and 32 percent.
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