Shrimp exports out of Vietnam fell dramatically last year, due largely to increased competition and lower prices, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Vietnam Customs reported that the country’s shrimp exports totaled USD 2.7 billion (EUR 2.5 billion) for the 11 months through November 2015, down 25.6 percent year-on-year. The estimated value for the whole of last year is USD 3 billion (EUR 2.8 billion), which would represent a decline of 25 percent.
Despite the drop in earnings, shrimp was still the Southeast Asian country’s No. 1 seafood export, representing 44 percent of the total value.
VASEP said last year’s performance was “attributable to many factors,” including weak demand from major markets, the slump in the global shrimp prices, the rise in India’s production, and the sharp depreciation of the Indian rupee, Thailand’s baht, Chinese yuan and the Indonesian rupiah against U.S. dollar.
In 2015, Vietnamese shrimp was exported to 92 markets. There were, though, acute declines in trade with many of the product’s main markets, including the United States, the EU, Japan and China.
The price of Vietnam’s black tiger shrimp count 16/20, a U.S. market favorite, fell 14 percent from USD 11.30 (EUR 10.37) per pound in early 2015 to USD 9.75 (EUR 8.94) per pound in the third-quarter, said the association.
However, it expects the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) signed with South Korea, EU, the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) as well as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to have a positive impact on Vietnam’s shrimp exports in 2016, whereby shipments will achieve a total value of USD 3.3 billion (EUR 3 billion) this year, an increase of 12 percent, even factoring in the downward trend in shrimp prices and currency fluctuations.
