Vietnam’s seafood exports dropped 28 percent in value to USD 588 million (EUR 497.6 million) in August due to the economic impact of a COVID-19 case-surge across the country, according to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) on 13 September.
Vietnam is confronting its worst outbreak of COVID-19, with more than 600,000 residents contracting the virus since 27 April, with most cases in the country’s south. In comparison, between early 2020 and April 2021, Vietnam experienced fewer than 3,000 cases, according to government data.
While the country has entered into a lockdown, seafood processing facilities aquaculture farms are still allowed to operate under the “3-on-site” model, meaning their workers must work, eat, and sleep within the plants and farms and completely isolate from the public and their families. VASEP said a recent survey it conducted showed that between 30 and 40 percent of the total seafood companies in Vietnam’s south have been able to continue operations under the “3-on-site” policy as of the end of August, but that these companies have seen their processing capacity decline by between 50 and 60 percent compared to the months before July. As a result, VASEP estimates the seafood-processing capacity of the country’s southern region has fallen by between 60 and 70 percent.
Partially due to these restrictive measures, the value of Vietnam’s year-on-year exports to most of its major markets fell in August, including shipments to China and Japan dropping 36 percent, shipments to the E.U. falling 32 percent, and exports to the U.S. and Russia contracting 16 percent. Vietnam’s seafood shipments to its secondary markets feel even more steeply, with its exports to the U.K. down 48 percent, Australia dropping 35 percent, and Canada down 37 percent.
Vietnam’s export value of shrimp, pangasius, tuna, squid and octopus, crab, and sea fish all tumbled by between 20 percent and 33 percent year-on-year.
In comparison with July, the country’s seafood export value dropped 31 percent, with shrimp decreasing 36 percent, pangasius falling 31 percent, tuna and other wild-caught fish diving 25 percent, and squid and octopus down 23 percent.
In the first eight months of 2021, Vietnam shipped seafood products worth nearly USD 5.6 billion (EUR 4.8 billion), up 7 percent mainly thanks to the strong export performance before July, when the pandemic had yet to hit the industry. Vietnam’s shrimp exports alone pulled in USD 2.45 billion (EUR 2.1 billion), an increase of 6.4 percent year-on-year, followed by pangasius with USD 993 million (EUR 843 million), up 8.8 percent year-over-year. Vietnam also earned 12 percent more from its tuna exports and 4 percent more from its squid and octopus exports over the year prior.
Thus far in 2021, the value of Vietnam’s exports to the U.S. have increased by 27 percent, its shipments to Australia have increased by 25 percent in value, and the value obtained for its shipments to the E.U. has risen 10 percent year-on-year. However, its exports to China and Japan have decreased 14.6 percent and 3 percent year-on-year, respectively, in value terms.
Vietnam’s seafood industry recorded some positive news earlier this week, when a number of provinces in the Mekong Delta, including Long An, Kien Giang, An Giang, Bac Lieu, Vinh Long, and Ca Mau, shifted from implementation of Directive 16 to Directive 15, effectively softening social distancing requirements. While significant travel and movement restrictions remain in place, VASEP estimates between 30 percent and 40 percent of seafood companies in southern Vietnam are able to resume operation once the restrictions are lifted.
Photo courtesy of Nguyen Quang Ngoc Tonkin/Shutterstock
