Seafood exports plummeted in the first half of August

Seafood exports saw good growth in the first 7 months but plummeted in the first half of August due to Covid-19 in southern provinces and cities.

Seafood exports in the first half of August plummeted due to Covid-19. Photo: Le Hoang Vu.

According to the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), in the first half of August 2021, Vietnam's seafood exports reached $263.8 million, down by 41% compared to the second half of July 2021 and down by 30.1% compared to the same period in 2020.

Accumulating since the beginning of the year to August 15th, 2021, Vietnam's seafood export turnover reached 5.2 billion USD, up by 9.8% over the same period in 2020.

Thus, Vietnam's seafood exports in the first half of August 2021 were adversely affected when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, forcing Ho Chi Minh City and many southern provinces, cities to implement Directive 16, affecting production and export of seafood.

Previously in July 2021, national seafood export reached US$853.77 million, up by 0.56% compared to June 2021 and up by 7.88% compared to July 2020.

In the first 7 months of 2021, Vietnam's seafood exports reached US$4.977 billion, up by 13.27% over the same period in 2020, accounting for 2.67% of Vietnam's total export value of goods.

Ms. Le Hang, Deputy Director of VASEP.PRO Center, said that as of mid-July, seafood production and export was still on a good growth momentum.

However, from the second half of July, due to the social distancing directives, production of raw materials and seafood processing slowed down considerably.

With the requirement of "3-onsite" production, processing in 19 provinces and cities heavily affected by the Covid-19, only about 30% of businesses can follow this protocol, with a decrease from 30 to 70% in capacity depending on the business.

Specifically, most southern provinces and cities have required businesses to only maintain operations when they ensure the conditions of "3 on-site" or "1 route - 2 locations" to prevent and control the spread of Covid-19 in factories and industrial zones.

But in fact, currently only about 30% of seafood enterprises in the southern provinces can ensure the "3 on-site" condition and the number of workers that can be mobilized only accounts for 30-60% of the total workforce.

The average production capacity has decreased to only 40-50% of before. It is estimated that the overall capacity of the whole region will decrease to only 30-40%.

Meanwhile, fishery materials mobilized for processing - export only reach about 40-50% compared to external raw materials. Materials, accessories, packaging... for seafood processing also decreased, reducing supply capacity by 50%.

With production reduced, many orders have been cancelled or lost, the costs for businesses to ensure "3 on-site" have skyrocketed and are creating great pressure.

Ms. Le Hang said that shipments in July may still use raw materials and stockpiles from before, so the statistical results have not yet reflected the declining trend, but compared to previous months, growth rate is significantly lower. With pangasius, tuna, squid and octopus products, exports have been slow since July.

The decline in production over the past month will certainly lead to a sharp drop in seafood export turnover in August compared to previous months and to the same period last year.

In particular, the pangasius industry suffered the biggest loss because more than half of the pangasius factories were closed down.

Shrimp and tuna exports may fall less than pangasius. Seafood processing and exporting businesses are concentrated in Ho Chi Minh City and the Southeast provinces, so seafood exports will certainly see a sharp decrease compared to last month and to August 2020.