Vietnam continued to see its tuna exports to the European Union surge thanks to the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said in a statement on 17 September.
The export value in the first half of August was nearly USD 6.3 million (EUR 5.32 million), rising 65 percent from the same period in 2019 and up 11 percent from the first half of July.
Most of the tuna orders that exporters received from the E.U. were for the products that are exempt from import duty, VASEP said.
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.
Vietnam had already boosted exports of tuna to the bloc in July to take advantage of the EVFTA.
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.
The free trade agreement has also helped Vietnam send more shrimp to the E.U. as its July exports to the bloc rose 2 percent from the same month in 2019, reaching USD 54.2 million (EUR 45.8 million) in value. Sales to the bloc in the first half of August soared up 26 percent year-on-year to USD 29.4 million (EUR 25 million).
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