A processing line of frozen shrimp at Thuận Phước Seafood and Trading Corporation. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The COVID-19 pandemic could provide a goodopportunity for the Vietnamese fisheries sector to increaseits share in oversea markets, especially withforeign rivals engulfed by lockdowns or other forms of restrictions,experts have said.
Braving certain difficulties, fishery exports had shown signs ofrecovery with export orders rising more than 10 percent recently, according tothe Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
State management agencies and seafood exporters both predict betterbusiness prospects in the last three months as the demand for fishery productspost-pandemic in both domestic and overseas markets will increase sharply.
Ngo Tuong Lan, deputy secretary general of the Vietnam Association of SeafoodExporters and Producers (VASEP), said COVID-19 was an opportunity for thedomestic fishery industry to adapt and develop.
Vietnam’s rivals such as India, Indonesia and Ecuador areunder lockdown and quarantines to combat the pandemic, which hasdriven their production and exports down by 30-50 percent.
“This is a great opportunity for Vietnamese seafood exporters to increase theirmarket shares,” Lan told a recent conference on promoting seafood productionand consumption.
Particularly, the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) will open doors tothe EU, along with a recovery in other important markets like China, Japan andthe United States.
Under the EVFTA, about 220 fishery products will enjoy tariff lines rangingfrom zero to 22 percent, most of the high tax lines of 6-22 percent will bereduced to zero percent immediately after the agreement takes effect andthe remaining tax lines will be phased out after 3-7 years.
Accordingto Lan, tra (pangasisu) fish –one of Vietnam’s staples – faced many difficulties, with production outputand exports declining by nearly 30 percent, so solution were neededto recover exports. Meanwhile, shrimp had maintained stable productionand shown signs of rebound.
The five main export markets for Vietnamese shrimp are the US, Japan,China, the EU and the Republic of Korea. The US and the RoK had continued tomaintain positive growth of 32 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively.
Earlier this month, 12 Vietnamese enterprises were givenpermission to re-export some seafood products to the Saudi Arabia marketafter nearly three years of a temporary suspension order.
However, in order to take advantage of new opportunities, MARD’s specialisedagencies recommended both farmers and exporters improve quality and ensurefood safety in all stages from farming to seafood exploitation and processing.
The National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department has updatedand sent out the new regulations, quality control systems and food safetyfor products that meet the requirements of importing markets such as the EU,China and the RoK.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said inanticipation of the free trade deal, Vietnamese fishery enterpriseshad made necessary preparations to meet the requirements of the EVFTA.
He added that Vietnam was also mobilising the entire political system toaddress the problem of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing inorder to have the EU’s “yellow card” removed.
The country’s fishery exports reached 5.6 billion USD by mid-September, whilethe industry is striving for total export turnover of 8.9 billion USD thisyear./.
Braving certain difficulties, fishery exports had shown signs ofrecovery with export orders rising more than 10 percent recently, according tothe Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
State management agencies and seafood exporters both predict betterbusiness prospects in the last three months as the demand for fishery productspost-pandemic in both domestic and overseas markets will increase sharply.
Ngo Tuong Lan, deputy secretary general of the Vietnam Association of SeafoodExporters and Producers (VASEP), said COVID-19 was an opportunity for thedomestic fishery industry to adapt and develop.
Vietnam’s rivals such as India, Indonesia and Ecuador areunder lockdown and quarantines to combat the pandemic, which hasdriven their production and exports down by 30-50 percent.
“This is a great opportunity for Vietnamese seafood exporters to increase theirmarket shares,” Lan told a recent conference on promoting seafood productionand consumption.
Particularly, the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) will open doors tothe EU, along with a recovery in other important markets like China, Japan andthe United States.
Under the EVFTA, about 220 fishery products will enjoy tariff lines rangingfrom zero to 22 percent, most of the high tax lines of 6-22 percent will bereduced to zero percent immediately after the agreement takes effect andthe remaining tax lines will be phased out after 3-7 years.
Accordingto Lan, tra (pangasisu) fish –one of Vietnam’s staples – faced many difficulties, with production outputand exports declining by nearly 30 percent, so solution were neededto recover exports. Meanwhile, shrimp had maintained stable productionand shown signs of rebound.
The five main export markets for Vietnamese shrimp are the US, Japan,China, the EU and the Republic of Korea. The US and the RoK had continued tomaintain positive growth of 32 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively.
Earlier this month, 12 Vietnamese enterprises were givenpermission to re-export some seafood products to the Saudi Arabia marketafter nearly three years of a temporary suspension order.
However, in order to take advantage of new opportunities, MARD’s specialisedagencies recommended both farmers and exporters improve quality and ensurefood safety in all stages from farming to seafood exploitation and processing.
The National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department has updatedand sent out the new regulations, quality control systems and food safetyfor products that meet the requirements of importing markets such as the EU,China and the RoK.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said inanticipation of the free trade deal, Vietnamese fishery enterpriseshad made necessary preparations to meet the requirements of the EVFTA.
He added that Vietnam was also mobilising the entire political system toaddress the problem of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing inorder to have the EU’s “yellow card” removed.
The country’s fishery exports reached 5.6 billion USD by mid-September, whilethe industry is striving for total export turnover of 8.9 billion USD thisyear./.
VNA
