Tra fish processed for export (Photo: VNA) The association predicted that tra fishexport would beat the target of 1.6 billion USD set at the beginning of thisyear to finish at 2.6 billion USD.
Tra fish processing plants were at full capacity in the firsthalf of this year for export orders, VASEP said, adding that the export valuereached more than 1.4 billion USD in the first six months of this year,representing a rise of 83% against the same period last year.
Inflation and the Russia - Ukraine conflictprovided the opportunity for Vietnam to expand tra fish exportto the EU, the US and the UK markets which faced with severe shortages of whitefish due to sanctions on Russia.
Tra fish export to the UK jumped by six times over the sameperiod last year while to Spain nearly tripled. Other markets which saw fastgrowth included mainland China, Hong Kong (124%), the US (131%) and France,Holland, Germany and Belgium by around 45-90%.
Vietnam’s tra fish has beenexported to 117 markets, including five new markets since the first quarter of2021.
In mid-May, the Food Safety and InspectionService under the US Department of Agriculture recognised six more Vietnamese tra fishprocessing factories to be eligible for exporting their products to the USmarket, bringing the total number of eligibility-recognised factories to 19.
Tra fish export to the US remained promising, VASEP said, citingstatistics of the International Trade Centre that frozen tra fishprices of Vietnam in the US hit a new record of nearly 5 USD per kg, about 2 USDhigher than the same period last year. This was also the strongest increase inthe past three years.
As for Comprehensive and Progressive Agreementfor Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) markets, tra fishexports to Mexico, Canada, Australia, and Japan were robust in the first sixmonths of this year, reaching 170 million USD, up by 64% against the sameperiod last year.
According to Truong Thi Le Khanh, Chairwoman ofthe Board of Directors of Vinh Hoan Joint Stock Company, with the rising demandfor tra fish in the US, Europe and China together with the COVID-19 pandemicnow under control and the shortage of supply, 2022 would be “very magical” forthe tra fish industry with all factories to be profitable.
Tra fish prices would keep increasing till the end of this year,bringing profits to tra fish producers and exporters, althoughcosts such as feed and logistics increased.
A recent report by BIDV Securities Company (BSC)said that Vietnam’s tra fish industry was entering a growthperiod after two years of a downtrend due to the impact of the COVID-19pandemic and the disruptions of the supply chain in 2020-21.
Tra fish import demand would increase significantly until theend of the year, after a long time pressed by the pandemic, BSC said.
BSC said that the US demand for tra fishwould increase strongly as the US faced a shortage of domestic catfish supply,which had been the impetus for Vietnam’s tra fish export fromthe end of 2021.
As for the Chinese market, BSC believed thatChina would gradually reopen with a huge consumption demand which had beenpent-up during the past two years as the impact of the pandemic. China would bean important market for tra fish export expansion.
Tra fish export was estimated at 1.54 billion USD in 2021./.
VNA
