Fishery exports in Q1 improve 3%

Ho Chi Minh City - The local fishery sector earned an estimated US$1.64 billion in export revenue in the first quarter of the year, up 3% against last year’s figure, according to data of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Employees process tra fish at a facility in Dong Thap Province. The local fishery sector earned an estimated US$1.64 billion in export revenue in the first quarter of the year, up 3% against last year’s figure – PHOTO: VNA

During the first two months, Vietnam’s fishery export activities were heavily impacted by the shortfall of ships, containers and the upsurge in shipping costs, especially costs for shipping fishery products to the United States and the EU.

At the same time, China tightening its Covid-19 safety control over imported fishery products made it more difficult for fishery export activities.

From the middle of March, the fishery export performance became less gloomy as the shortage of shipping containers was eased and China also relaxed its Covid-19 preventive measures earlier imposed on imported items.

The shrimp exports in January rose 16% compared to the same period last year, then dropped 10% in February and improved some 10% in March to reach around US$270 million.

As for tra fish export revenue, it declined 5.5% in the first two months and then bounced back 11% in March at US$137 million.

Overall, in the first quarter, the sector exported shrimp products worth US$646 million, up nearly 3% and tra fish products worth US$336 million, rising a slight 0.6% year-on-year.

The exports of other seafood products saw positive results. Of them, the exports of cuttlefish and octopus to the European market recovered significantly thanks to tariff incentives under the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.

VASEP forecast that the exports of shrimp and tra fish to China will recover in the upcoming months as the neighboring country is tackling seaport congestion as well as relaxing Covid-19 safety measures imposed on frozen imported fishery products.

Meanwhile, the exports of shrimp to the United States could be pretty grim. Further, freight shipping costs to the EU remaining high and shipping companies refusing to transport frozen goods to the United States in April will leave a major impact on the sector’s exports in the coming period.

The country’s fishery exports were forecast to rise by only 10% this month at US$680 million as it could be hard for the sector to make a strong rebound within a short time.