Tra fish sector keen to restore potential export markets in post-pandemic period

Vietnam’s tra fish industry has been urged to make moves to quickly recover its business with the Chinese market whilst re-evaluating its position with potential consumption markets such as the United States and Europe in order to make proper adjustments for 2021 and the subsequent years, according to insiders.

These series of recommendations were put forward during a meeting on May 7 in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang aimed at reviewing the production and consumption of tra fish, along with devising methods aimed at developing the local tra fish industry in the near future amid the negative economic impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

This comes after the tra fish (pangasius) industry faced a range of challenges last year when the aquaculture output of pangasius increased rapidly from 2018. This ultimately led to an abundant supply and resulted in sharp decreases in the export price in the market while the prices of raw materials have since fluctuated due to the impact of the US-China trade war.

Most notably, the total farming area for tra fish last year surged by 15% to 6,205 hectares in comparison to 2018’s figure, with output reaching a total of 1.72 million tonnes, an annual increase of 21.1%, while export turnover dropped by 11.4% to US$2 billion against 2018.

At present, the COVID-19 epidemic has greatly affected the export of pangasius to major markets such as China, the US, the EU, and the Republic of Korea.

As a result, the export turnover of pangasius until March 30 suffered a severe drop of 29.3% to US$334 million against the same period last year.

Delegates at the meeting therefore emphasized that it must be anticipated that export turnover will suffer a similar setback this year due to the impact of the COVID-19, with the country’s major export markets not likely to bounce back immediately in the post-pandemic period.

Indeed, the Chinese market remains unstable and is a high-risk market, despite making up the destination for over 30% of the nation’s total pangasius exports.

Participants underlined the need to support domestic firms to increase trade promotion activities in a bid to expand into new markets and create greater distribution channels for the domestic market.

Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, underscored the importance of focusing on the Chinese market throughout May and June, in addition to the EU market in June and July, while drawing up a series of strategies to make further inroads into the Japanese market which is currently a great consumer for tra fish.