Vietnam saw the year-on-year value of its tuna exports to the United States and European Union contracting in September compared with previous months.
According to data from the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Vietnam shipped USD 53 million (EUR 46.71 million) worth of tuna in September, edging up 1.4 percent from the same month last year. This was lower than the year-on-year increase of 20.4 percent and 2.1 percent in August and July, respectively.
Vietnam’s top market for tuna, the United States, accounted for USD 19 million (EUR 16.8 million) of sales, down 17.2 percent year-on-year. The ongoing tit-for-tat trade war between the United States and China has enabled Southeast Asian nations, including Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines, to take over the market share in the United States left by China. Tuna exporters from Vietnam, however, was not as competitive as those from the other regional countries, VASEP said.
The value of tuna exports to European Union in the month increased 1.3 percent year-on-year to USD 16 million (EUR 14.1 million), which was much lower than the year-on-year rise of 47 percent in August. Sales to Germany and the Netherlands in September fell sharply compared with a year earlier, while the value of its exports to Spain surprisingly jumped 336 percent.
The yellow card imposed by the European Commission in October 2017 did cause negative impacts on the export volumes to the bloc in the period. But the tuna export value still rose because of higher prices, VASEP said earlier this month.
In contrast to the slow growth in the United States and the European Union, the tuna export value that Vietnam gained from other important markets rose significantly in September. Tuna exports to Israel were worth USD 4.3 million (EUR 3.8 million) – 75 percent higher year-on-year – and the value from exports to Thailand climbed 56 percent from the same month last year to USD 3 million (EUR 2.64 million).
Vietnam exported tuna worth USD 474 million (EUR 417.88 million) in the first nine months of this year, up 10.3 percent from 2017, with the United States and the European Union being the country’s biggest buyers, VASEP said.
Photo courtesy of Nhan Dan Online
