Tra fish strongly shifted to the Middle East market

Tra fish processing and exporting enterprises have strongly shifted to the Middle East region this year, obtained positive results in this market.

Pangasius exports to the Middle East experienced a sharp increase in the first eight months of the year. Photo: Le Hoang Vu.

According to Ms. Ta Ha, VASEP’s expert on the tra fish (pangasius) market, the Middle East has been a potential market for Vietnamese pangasius for a long time. Exports to this region however have many ups and downs. But overall, Vietnam’s pangasius has been exported to the Middle East since the beginning of the year without any problem.

For example, after several years of stagnation, the export value to the Saudi Arabia market has experienced growth once again in the first eight months of 2021. Saudi Arabia is now Vietnam's third largest pangasius export market in the Middle East with a total export value of USD 6.92 million.

By the end of August 2021, the total pangasius export value to the Middle East market reached USD 56.32 million. Egypt, UAE and Saudi Arabia are the three largest markets of Vietnamese pangasius in particular.

In the first 8 months of 2021, pangasius export value to Egypt reached USD 18.7 million, to the UAE reached USD 17.1 million, up 87.5% and 7.8% respectively over the same period last year, accounting for more than 63% of the total pangasius export value to the entire Middle East region.