Tra fish shipments to Spain decline steeply

CAN THO – Vietnam’s export of tra fish (pangasius) to Spain has fallen sharply since Carrefour, Europe’s largest retailer, stopped distributing the fish early this year.

Revenue from tra fish exports to Spain in February plunged a staggering 46.7% year-on-year, according to a report of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

In the first two months of this year, tra fish shipments to the European nation plummeted 19.9% year-on-year to around US$6.1 million.

Tra exports to this market amounted to US$121.8 million in 2008 and US$122 million in 2009, meaning the monthly average export revenue reached over US$10 million.

VASEP said the situation had been aggravated by the growing competition between Vietnamese pangasius and white-flesh fish of some European countries like France and Spain since 2009. The European media has reported inaccurately on the Vietnamese tra fish sector, claiming that there is high risk of food hygiene and fish farms are polluted. In January a Spanish TV station aired video footage containing wrong information about Vietnam’s pangasius farming industry but it led Carrefour to cease distributing Vietnam’s tra fish in Spain and elsewhere in Europe.

VASEP General Secretary Truong Dinh Hoe then told the Daily that export sales of Vietnamese tra fish might take a hit. Recent data shows that has become true.

In the year to mid-February, tra exports to the European Union (EU) fell 17.6% to US$25.2 million compared to the same period last year, according to the Vietnam Pangasius Association.

Carrefour’s decision to stop importing the fish from Vietnam is one of the reasons, said Vo Hung Dung, vice president and general secretary of the association. Local enterprises have no other choice but to guarantee high quality to win back EU consumers.