Vietnam earned 790 million USD from exporting aquatic products in May, lifting the total figure in the first five months of this year to nearly 3.3 billion USD, a year-on-year rise of 14 percent.

 

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), after a 23 percent increase in April, shrimp exports continued to maintain a growth rate of 25 percent in May with turnover reaching 375 million USD.

 

By the end of May, Vietnam's shrimp exports had raked in 1.34 billion USD, up 14 percent over the same period last year.

 

Tra fish (pangasius) exports also witnessed a higher-than-expected recovery with growth of 26 percent, valued at 134 million USD. Pangasius export turnover in the first five months of the year reached 623 million USD, an increase of 12 percent year-on-year.

 

Seafood exports still achieved a strong growth rate of 14.5 percent over the same period last year, reaching a turnover of 1.3 billion USD in the first five months of this year.

 

Among them, tuna exports reached 292 million USD, up 21 percent over last year’s figure.

 

Especially, in April and May, tuna exports achieved an impressive increase, 1.5 times higher than the same period last year. This is a positive signal for exports in the coming months.

 

Export of squid and octopus also recovered positively, up 11 percent to 212 million USD.

According to the VASEP, the current supply of aquatic materials for processing is stable, especially for shrimp and pangasius products while seafood materials is more difficult due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the main factor determining the recovery of Vietnam's seafood exports in the current period is the market.

 

Accordingly, the US, EU and member countries of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) are the markets that play a dominant role in the growth of Vietnam's seafood exports.

 

The strong rises in March and April have helped lift the total export value of the products to the US in the first four months of this year to 483 million USD, up 28 percent compared with the same period last year, VACEP said.

 

In addition to shrimp, tuna is expected to have an opportunity to export rapidly to the US market.

 

The European market is also expected an ideal destination of Vietnamese seafood exporters. Although the economic recovery of this market sector is slower than that of the US, consumption demand is recovering when the COVID-19 pandemic is gradually controlled.

 

Vietnam's aquatic product export turnover to the EU in May reached nearly 95 million USD, up 30 percent compared to the same period last year.

 

Accumulated exports to the EU reached over 380 million USD in the first five months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 15 percent.

 

Shrimp still the main products with nearly 199 million USD, up 22 percent over the same period last year. While the export of shrimp and seafood products to the EU has a positive trend, pangasius exports to the EU have not shown any signs of recovery, continuing to decline by over 25 percent against last year./.