After overcoming challenges related to tuna size regulations and market volatility, Vietnam’s tuna exports are recovering and expanding in key markets.
Tuna export value is forecast to reach 1 billion USD in 2024, marking an 18% increase compared to last year’s figure and solidifying the product's role as one of Vietnam’s key seafood exports.
Vietnam’s fisheries exports generated nearly 2 billion USD in revenue from January – March, up 8% year-on-year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Tuna exports brought home 693 million USD during the first 10 months of 2023, falling 22% year on year and ranking third among aquatic products, reported the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Despite a sharp fall in exports before the end of 2022 due to global inflation, tuna still brought home 1 billion USD in revenue last year, up 34% from 2021, becoming a billion-dollar commodity for the first time, data showed.
The demand for tuna in foreign markets amid the strong rise in prices of other foodstuff is predicted to lead to a surge in tuna export volume and value of Vietnam, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Tuna export turnover in 2022 is expected to reach about 1.1 billion USD, up 45% from the previous year, considering a 56% growth in the first six months of the year, according to statistics of the General Department of Vietnam Customs.
Vietnam’s tuna industry has bounced back strongly post-pandemic as exports soared 72 percent year-on-year to some 260 million USD in the first quarter of 2022, the highest in five years.
The three-digit growth rate of Vietnam’s tuna exports to Mexico and Israel is considered a catalyst for a strong increase of over 16 percent of the country’s total tuna export value in 2021.
Vietnam earned nearly 49.4 million USD from tuna exports in August, a fall of 19 percent year-on-year, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.
Vietnam’s tuna exports to the Middle East and Africa have seen positive signs since the beginning of the year despite declines in overall seafood exports in the face of COVID-19, First Secretary and Head of the Trade Office at the Vietnamese Embassy in Egypt Nguyen Duy Hung said on October 25.
Vietnam recorded a trade deficit of 101.4 million USD with Israel in the first five months of this year due to declines in the export of key commodities and the resumed import of items of high value.
Last year, Vietnam’s tuna exports exceeded 719 million USD, an increase of 10.2 percent from 2018, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
In the first nine months of 2019, Phu Yen province yielded nearly 55,000 tonnes of aquatic products, 3,335 tonnes of which is tuna, up 4.7 percent against last year’s corresponding period.
Vietnam’s tuna exports to Greece increased 104 percent year-on-year to reach nearly 1.8 million USD by the end of July 2019, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Vietnam’s tuna exports are expected to thrive in 2019 as several obstacles regarding origin certification have been removed, said the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Tra fish (pangasius) exports are likely to surpass 2 billion USD for the first time this year, presenting an opportunity for Vietnam’s aquatic product exports to realise or even exceed its yearly goal of 9 billion USD.
Vietnam’s seafood exports to the United States reduced in the first five months, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).