Vietnam seafood exports in first 8 months of 2014 is estimated to reach USD 5 billion (EUR 3.9 billion), up 20 percent over the same period of 2013, according to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors. The growth was seen mostly in shrimp exports to all foreign markets of Vietnam.
Sales of cephalopod, crab and other marine fish species were also increasing through months. However, pangasius products saw slight drop and tuna saw deep fall in exports.
In the first half of 2014, Vietnam shipped seafood products to 160 markets, compared to 155 markets reported in the same period of 2013. Exports to most markets got high growth of 12 – 51 percent, excluding Japan. Sales to this country reported only a 3 percent rise due to a deep cut in imports of shrimp ad tuna products.
The three main importing markets of Vietnam — including the U.S., the EU and Japan — represented 55 percent of Vietnam total seafood exports, compared to a proportion of 56 percent recorded in the first half of 2013. The proportion of Japan downed 3 percent while the U.S. saw a rise of 2 percent and EU saw a rise of 0.4 percent.
