Seafood exports from Vietnam increased by 6.4 percent year-on-year in the first-quarter of 2016 to a total of USD 1.45 billion (EUR 1.3 billion), thanks to increases in the Southeast Asian country’s shrimp and pangasius trades of 8 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.
According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), a stable foreign exchange market and recovering prices in some markets supported Vietnam shrimp exports in the first three months of the year. During the same period, concerns about the impact of the final rule on USDA catfish inspection program pushed up the export price of pangasius in the U.S. market.
However, supply shortages saw Vietnam’s exports of tuna and cephalopods fall 5.5 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively.
Total exports to the U.S. market in Q1 increased by 15 percent year-on-year due to the higher demand for Vietnamese shrimp and pangasius. At the same time, its exports to China grew by 31 percent.
VASEP expects seafood exports to maintain the growth trend in Q2 but cautioned that it was likely there would be a decline in the availability of shrimp and pangasius.
