Tra fish export: China lucrative market but high risk
Hanoi (VNA) – China
has become an increasingly lucrative market for Vietnam’s Tra fish (pangasius) but
Vietnamese enterprises face risks in this market.
In recent years, tra fish exports
to China have grown strongly, helping offset the decline in traditional markets
like the European Union and ASEAN.
In the past five years, tra fish
exports to China increased annually by between 24.2 percent and 88.7 percent to
reach 304.7 million USD in 2016, more than four times the export value five
years earlier and almost double the value in 2015.
Aprt from China, the United
States is Vietnam’s only major market that has seen tra fish exports continue
to increase, reaching 387.4 million USD in 2016, up 22.8 percent.
Tra fish exports to the European
Union have declined over the past three years to 261.1 million USD in 2016. Declines
have also been seen in ASEAN (0.2 percent), Mexico (12 percent), Brazil (12.5
percent), Colombia (15.4 percent), and Saudia Arabia (16.6 percent).
However, enterprises who export
catfish to China still face some risks.
Chinese companies often only pay
30 percent of the total value of shipments and logistics costs in advance.
Vietnamese exporter only receive the remaining 70 percent if their Chinese
partner receive the shipments.
Most tra fish products exported
to China are butterfly-cut or fillet products, so if Chinese importers do not
buy these products, it is hard for Vietnamese companies to export them to other
markets.-VNA