Vietnam exported shrimp worth USD 583.9 million (EUR 486.3 million) to the EU in the first nine months of 2017, an increase of 35.4 percent year-on-year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
The bloc is the leading buyer of Vietnamese shrimp and the latest statistics issued by VASEP find that exports to the two leading markets – the Netherlands and the United Kingdom – were up 60.7 percent and 46 percent respectively. The association said the export value of Vietnam shrimp to the EU had increased because its consumers were favoring value-added seafood products as well as the heightened year-end demand.
Overall, Vietnam’s shrimp exports for January through September 2017 amounted to USD 2.7 billion (EUR 2.2 billion), up 21.4 percent year-on-year. Of this total, whiteleg shrimp accounted for USD 1.8 billion (EUR 1.5 billion), up 28.4 percent; while its black tiger shrimp exports reached USD 652.4 million (EUR 543.5 million), down 5.4 percent.
In the nine-month period, Vietnamese shrimp was exported to 93 markets, compared with 85 markets in the same period of 2016. After the EU, its main importing markets were Japan, China, the United States and South Korea.
Vietnam’s total shrimp harvest for 2017 was forecast to increase slightly to 660,000 metric tons (MT).
