China likely becomes Vietnam’s biggest tra fish market

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) – China (including Hong Kong) is more likely to become Vietnam’s largest tra fish market in 2017, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Tra fish exports to mainland China and Hong Kong in the first ten months of this year reached 235.5 million USD, up 76 percent against the same period last year, said VASEP, adding that tra fish export to this market has grown constantly in the past two years.

China has surpassed the EU to become Vietnam’s second largest tra fish market as of September 2016.

The Chinese customers’ demand for tra fish import increased due to reasonable price, said the Vietnam Trade Promotion Office in Chongquing (China).

Although the US is the Vietnam’s largest tra fish market, high anti-dumping taxes and the catfish investigation programme of the US Department of Agriculture are barriers for Vietnamese tra fish exporters.

Therefore, the association forecasted that tra fish export to the US market in 2017 will be not as high as that in 2016.

It is also the reason for China to possibly become the largest market for Vietnamese tra fish in 2017, said the VASEP.

Tra fish material markets in Mekong Delta provinces are now sluggish in terms of purchasing power and price, as tra fish processing plants were buying and producing moderately after collecting sufficient goods to export to the EU, the US and China on Christmas and New Year occasions.-VNA