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Tra fish export: China lucrative market but high risk

China has become an increasingly lucrative market for Vietnam’s Tra fish (pangasius) but Vietnamese enterprises face risks in this market.
Tra fish export: China lucrative market but high risk ảnh 1Tra fish is being processed for export in a factory. (Source: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Chinahas become an increasingly lucrative market for Vietnam’s Tra fish (pangasius) butVietnamese enterprises face risks in this market.

In recent years, tra fish exportsto China have grown strongly, helping offset the decline in traditional marketslike the European Union and ASEAN.

In the past five years, tra fishexports to China increased annually by between 24.2 percent and 88.7 percent toreach 304.7 million USD in 2016, more than four times the export value fiveyears earlier and almost double the value in 2015.

Aprt from China, the UnitedStates is Vietnam’s only major market that has seen tra fish exports continueto increase, reaching 387.4 million USD in 2016, up 22.8 percent.

Tra fish exports to the EuropeanUnion have declined over the past three years to 261.1 million USD in 2016. Declineshave also been seen in ASEAN (0.2 percent), Mexico (12 percent), Brazil (12.5percent), Colombia (15.4 percent), and Saudia Arabia (16.6 percent).

However, enterprises who exportcatfish to China still face some risks.

Chinese companies often only pay30 percent of the total value of shipments and logistics costs in advance.Vietnamese exporter only receive the remaining 70 percent if their Chinesepartner receive the shipments.

Most tra fish products exportedto China are butterfly-cut or fillet products, so if Chinese importers do notbuy these products, it is hard for Vietnamese companies to export them to othermarkets.-VNA

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