Through the first 10 months of the year, U.S. imports of pangasius from Vietnam are down 16 percent from the same period last year, yet it is Vietnam’s second-largest market for the product.
U.S. imports of frozen pangasius fillets topped 541 million pounds through October, down 4.5 percent from the same period in 2013, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Overall pangasius exports to the United States are down 16.2 percent, worth a total of USD 273.3 million (EUR 220.6 million), according to the Vietnam General Customs and reported by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
VASEP said that high tariffs on Vietnamese exporters hindered trade to the United States, which accounts for 18.7 percent of the country’s pangasius exports. Despite export volume decreasing, VASEP said the average price over the first nine months of the year was USD 3.09 (EUR 2.49) per kilogram, up 1.31 percent from the same period in 2013.
Among the top 10 seafood species consumed in the United States, pangasius ranked No. 6 in 2013 at 0.771 pounds per capita, up from 0.726 pounds per capita in 2012.
