Fishermen bring tuna onto the mainland in the central province of Phu Yen (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Tuna exports are expected to top 1 billionUSD this year, up 350 million USD from last year, according to the Vietnam Associationof Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
VASEP General Secretary TruongDinh Hoe said exports grew by 10 percent last year to 653 million USD.
Despite being affected bythe EC yellow card warning for failing to makeprogress in fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, thecountry managed to increase exports though the growth rate was lower than inthe previous year, he said.
Vietnam exported tuna products to 105 markets last year, with the US,the EU, Israel, ASEAN, Japan, Canada, China, and Mexico being the major ones. TheUS topped the list with nearly 230 million USD worth of purchases.
Frozen tuna fillet was akey export item to the US last year as shipments of processed tuna increasedsignificantly while those of canned tuna products fell, VASEP said.
Vietnam was the fourth largest supplier of canned and processed tuna productsto the US behind Thailand, Ecuador and China, and the second largest supplierof frozen fillet after Indonesia.
Tuna exports to the EU fell by 10.7 percent in the fourth quarter of last year,but thanks to good growth in the first three quarters, exports were still up11.5 percent from 2017 to 158 million USD.
Similarly, exports to Japan fell by 25.6 percent in the fourth quarter, but overallexports were up by 1.7 percent to nearly 25 million USD.
Frozen fillet was Vietnam’s key export item to Japan.
With their strong fishing capacity, the competitiveness and supply capacity ofcountries with “thousands of islands” were much higher than that of Vietnam,the association said.
In the canned tuna segment, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, China, and Vietnamwere the biggest global suppliers.
Vietnam’s market share fell sharply to just 2 percent while that of Thailandwas nearly 61 percent and Indonesia and the Philippines’s was 17 percent each.
Enterprises also imported tuna worth 349 million USD last year, an increase of31 percent, to process for export.
They imported from 49 countries and territories, with Taiwan (China), theRepublic of Korea, China, the US, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Japan beingthe largest suppliers.-VNS/VNA
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