Vietnam boosts canned tuna exports to Portugal

Besides the EU, Vietnam and Indonesia saw an increase in sales in Portugal in 2019. Vietnamese producers are offering the lowest price among top ten suppliers to this market, 1,343 EUR/ton.

Canned tuna was the major product that Vietnam sold to Portugal in 2019. This country is leaning towards importing fillet/frozen tuna loin code HS0304 from Vietnam in 2020.

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, exports of fillet/frozen tuna loin HS0304 to Portugal in the first three months of 2020 accounted for over 67% of the country’s total export value. Meanwhile, exports of processed and canned tuna products during this time decreased by 21% compared to the same period last year. Exports of fillet/frozen tuna loin HS0304 increased by nearly 123%.

Vietnam sold mainly loin of yellow-fin tuna and frozen loin of skipjack tuna to this market in the first three months of 2020 at 3.4 USD/kg on average.

The rise was attributed to Portugal’s tuna exporters taking advantage of the preferential tariff in accordance with the autonomous tariff quota (ATQ) imposed on frozen tuna loin. Total 10,524 cases were confirmed to be infected with coronavirus as of April 04, 2020 and the Portugal government had to raise its warning to the highest level and continued to keep the country in quarantine. This is forecasted to affect the country’s canned tuna imports with a drop in importing canned tuna products and big-sized packages and an increase in buying small-sized tuna cans. However, it is forecasted that Portugal’s demand in tuna loin will grow because production factories are operating to meet local consumption.