Shrimp remains the biggest currency earner, bringing home 198 million USD from the US in the first four months of this year. (Photo:VNA) Hanoi, (VNA) – The export of aquatic products to theUnited States posted a sharp growth in the past three months despite theadverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy.
According to Le Hang, Deputy Director of the VASEP.PROcentre at the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), aquaticexports to the US increased by 36 percent in March against last year’s figure.
The growth was 64 percent in April, with export valuereaching 149 million USD.
The strong rises in March and April have helped lift thetotal export value of the products to the US in the first four months ofthis year to 483 million USD, up 28 percent compared with the same period lastyear.
Shrimp remains the biggest currency earner, bringing home 198million USD from the US in the first four months of this year, up nearly 25percent year-on-year and accounting for 21 percent of Vietnam's total shrimpexport value and 41 percent of the total seafood export value to the US.
Meanwhile, export revenue from Tra (Pangasius) fish was102 million USD, an increase of 37 percent year-on-year, making up 21percent of the country’s pangasius export value and 21 percent of the totalseafood export value to the US.
Statistics from the US’s National Marine Fisheries Serviceshowed that in the first quarter of this year, the US imported 743,700 tonnesof seafood products, worth 5.6 billion USD, up 7.2 percent in volume and 7.7percent in value over the same period last year.
Vietnam has become the fifth largest seafood exporter to theUS in term of quantity with 62,800 tonnes, a yearly increase of 24.6 percent.In term of value, it ranks sixth with 341 million USD, up 19.1 percent againstthe previous year.
Vietnam’s share in the US’s total volume of seafood imports roseto 8.5 percent in Q1 from 7.3 percent in the same period in 2020.
According to VASEP, the consumption and imports of aquaticproducts in the US will increase remarkably in the second half of this year.
It is forecast that seafood imports of the US this year willclimb by 6 percent to 2.9 million tonnes in volume and 9 percent to reach 23.3billion USD in value, even higher than the levels before the beginning of the COVID-19pandemic.
Therefore, the US will be the target market for seafoodexporting countries including Vietnam, India, Ecuador, Indonesia and Thailand./.
VNA
