Vietnam’s seafood exports to EU predicted to down 20 percent

Can Tho (VNA) – Vietnam's seafood exports to the European Union (EU) market this year is forecast to decrease by 20 percent compared to last year, reaching only over 1 billion USD, heard a workshop held in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on October 16.

According to Le Thanh Hoa, deputy director of the Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development Department at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the elimination of tariffs in the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is expected to create a great opportunity for Vietnam’s seafood exports.

From the beginning of August, the number of export orders of seafood has increased by about 10 percent compared to July 2020.
 
Vietnam’s seafood production value increased by 2.48 percent, while the export turnover reached 692 million USD in the first nine months of this year despite impact caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, Hoa said.

Piotr Harasimowicz, Chief Representative Officer of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency in Vietnam, said during the COVID-19 pandemic, Polish consumers’ demand for frozen and canned products is increasing.

Seafood exports from Vietnam to Poland in the first eight months of 2020 reached 19.6 million USD, up over 24 percent over the same period last year.

Harasimowicz advised Vietnamese enterprises to focus on controlling the quality of their products, saying that in order to stand firm in the Polish market, Vietnamese products need to meet regulations on food quality and safety and at a reasonable price.

A report of the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQAD) at the workshop showed that out of the 805 Vietnamese enterprises exporting seafood to markets across the world, there are 579 enterprises exporting seafood to the EU, accounting for 72 percent. Vietnam's seafood products have penetrated deeply and have a firm foothold in the EU, ranking 11th in the market share in the market.

The EU has recognised Vietnam's aquatic food safety control system, and NAFIQAD as the Vietnamese authority to control seafood exported to the EU.

It remained the second largest importer of Vietnamese shrimp products after the US in the 2010-2019 period. The shrimp export turnover to the market in this period averagely grew by 8.7 percent per year.

In the next five years, Vietnam's seafood exports to the EU will grow better if the “yellow card” warning for illegal seafood exploitation by the European Commission is removed, and the country takes advantage of tax incentives brought by the EVFTA. The turnover in the next five years is forecast to reach 1.2 -1.5 billion USD per year./.