Vietnam exported pangasius worth USD 80.6 million (EUR 71.7 million) to the United States in the first-quarter of 2016, an increase of 3.4 percent year-on-year. However, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) anticipates that in future quarters, exports to the U.S. market will fall because the number of enterprises engaged in exporting pangasius to the market has decreased due to the high anti-dumping tax.
Through early 2016, the export price of pangasius to the States has been affected by the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) catfish inspection program, said VASEP.
Meanwhile, pangasius exports to Vietnam’s second most important market – the EU – continued to fall in Q1 2016, reaching a total of USD 63.6 million (EUR 56.6 million), down 6.8 percent year-on-year.
Within the EU bloc’s four biggest pangasius markets, there were increased exports to Spain and Germany of 17.9 percent and 4.4 percent respectively, while exports to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom fell by 13 percent and 22.5 percent respectively. Despite this declining trend, VASEP believes that the trade will pick up in Q2 and Q3 of this year due to the competitive price level of the product.
At the same time, demand for pangasius continues to grow in the China and Hong Kong market, with exports achieving a value of USD 25.4 million (EUR 22.6 million) in Q1, up 32.6 percent year-on-year. VASEP forecasts that this trend will persist through Q2, whereby the market will import between 20 percent and 35 percent more product than in the same period of 2015.
Overall, Vietnam’s pangasius exports achieved a total value of USD 365.4 million (EUR 325.1 million) in the last quarter, up 2.4 percent year-on-year.
