Shrimp exports from Vietnam will continue to build on 2017’s momentum, particularly shipments to the EU and China, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has projected.
Vietnam exported an estimated USD 3.8 billion (EUR 3.1 billion) worth of shrimp last year, representing an increase of 22 percent from 2016.
The EU was Vietnam’s No. 1 buyer with its shrimp imports exceeding USD 780 million (EUR 638.7 million) in the first 11 months of last year, up 42.4 percent year-on-year. Indeed, the latest statistics issued by VASEP find that exports to the three leading markets – the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany – were up 70.5 percent, 54.5 percent and 5.9 percent respectively.
The association’s General Secretary Truong Dinh Hoe attributed the performance to “preferential treatments offered by the EU to some Vietnamese shrimp products,” under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP).
Thailand and China do not have this advantage, he said.
Vietnam’s main competition in the bloc were India and Ecuador, said Hoe, who added that Indian shrimp exports to the EU might fall and face a ban due to antibiotics problems.
Vietnamese products could be a potential replacement, he said.
VASEP also believes that the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, expected to take effect this year, will boost Vietnamese shrimp shipments to the bloc thanks to tariff elimination for a number of products, which are currently taxed at 20 percent.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s shrimp exports to China in the first 11 months of last year grew 60.2 percent year-on-year to reach USD 637.9 million (EUR 522.3 million). VASEP said China had experienced a reduced domestic supply of shrimp due to poor weather and disease challenges, while its demand for shrimp products is rising thanks to the expansion of the middle-income group and tourism.
From December 1 2017, the country’s tariff on frozen shrimp imports fell to 2 percent from 5 percent.
China is forecast to surpass Japan to become the second largest importer of Vietnamese shrimp in Q1 2018, said the association.
