Seafood export still has many difficulties

The value of seafood export turnover by the end of November reached 8.24 billion USD, down 18.9% over the same period in 2022 and reaching 82.4% of the plan (10 billion USD). Illustration photo: TL

Making use of every opportunities

As one of the key economic sectors, playing an important role in the development of the Vietnamese economy with an ever-expanding scale, Vietnamese seafood is not only affirmed domestically but also well received by foreign countries around the world. To date, Vietnamese seafood products have been exported to more than 170 countries and territories, and the seafood export value in 2022 reached USD 11 billion for the first time.

However, from the end of 2022 until now, the panorama of Vietnam's seafood exports has been covered in dark colors as export turnover has continuously decreased due to consumption demand in main markets in a "slumping" state”. Seafood exports have declined recently due to pressure from both domestic and international macro factors. First, export prices of aquatic products at the beginning of this year tended to decrease. Competition in seafood prices in the international market makes it difficult for Vietnamese businesses to find orders, leading to price reductions. In addition, the demand for imported seafood also decreased because importing countries have not consumed the large inventory of the previous year. The value of seafood export turnover by the end of November reached USD 8.24 billion, down 18.9% over the same period in 2022 and reaching 82.4% of the plan (USD 10 billion).

However, some good signals from the world and domestic markets as well as increased consumption trends in main markets in the last months of the year are bringing prospects for export recovery in this industry. The good signal for seafood exports comes from the recovery of key markets due to increased demand during year-end holidays and New Year for the industry's strong products such as tuna, shrimp, and pangasius.

Commenting on the prospects of the US market - one of the main markets for Vietnamese seafood, Commercial Counselor Do Ngoc Hung said that currently US inventories are decreasing with large consumption demand for seafood. Holidays and Tet at the end of the year will be opportunities for seafood export. However, the challenge for seafood exports to the United States is that this market often applies strict technical barriers, regulations on quarantine, farming environment, strict product origin labels, and protection policies; As for Vietnamese seafood enterprises, there are still limit ations in branding and logistics services. Therefore, to promote exports to the United States, businesses need to thoroughly research the market, limit  price competition, and strictly control the quality of shipments exported to the market; Regularly participate in seafood fairs; towards the production of deeply processed products; Pay attention, update trends, warn about items at risk of trade defense investigation as well as pay attention to packaging quality.

In addition to the US market, China is also a promising market to help restore seafood exports. According to experts, except for the period of restriction due to the Covid-19 epidemic, China has always been a large and potential seafood consumption market because of its large population and increasing per capita income. To prepare goods for the year-end holiday season, the Chinese market has begun to increase demand and exports to this market have recorded positive growth in the past 2 months.

Forecasting will still be difficult

Assessing the situation of seafood export in 2023, the Department of Fisheries (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) stated that seafood production in 2023 has had a good growth, especially the aquaculture sector exceeded planned level (aquaculture develops many high-tech farming models, especially super-intensive shrimp farming). However, the exploitation output has not reached the target according to the orientation of the Fisheries Development Strategy, which is to gradually reduce annual exploitation and reach 2.8 million tons by 2030. Regarding exports, seafood exports Faced with many difficulties in 2023; although import markets are tending to recover, it is estimated that seafood export turnover in 2023 will be lower than the set target (USD 10 billion); export value for the whole year 2023 is estimated to reach about USD 9.2 billion. Faced with that situation, the Department of Fisheries advised the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to organize conferences, seminars, and science and technology forums to transfer technology for production. Thereby contributing to promoting production development, in the last months of the year, the seafood export situation has improved again.

Forecasting the seafood export picture for 2024, representative of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), Ms. Vuong Thi Oanh, said that although the picture of the seafood industry in 2023 is improving, there are still many difficulties. These difficulties are expected to last from now until the end of the year and into 2024. Specifically, in the second half of 2023, total global output in the second half of the year may not increase due to demand for the market not to be strong enough. Among Vietnam's main seafood export markets, China is expected to continue to be a growing market in the second half of the year. Other major markets such as the US, EU and Japan are expected to increase import demand at the end of the year as inventories decrease and major holidays approach. Vietnam will continue to be a potential supplier to the above markets. However, competition will still increase with countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and China for processed products and with Ecuador for regular products.

Regarding the opportunities of Vietnamese seafood, Ms. Vuong Thi Oanh said that, for many years, Vietnamese seafood products have competed with processing capacity. This has helped us create export products with high value and good prices, overcoming limit ations in production and transportation costs. Vietnam has gradually asserted its position with popular products in markets such as Japan, Korea, Australia, and England... and maintained good market share in highly competitive markets such as the United States and European countries. Europe. Besides, import demand from many key markets is likely to recover well at the end of the year. Domestic production output is still maintained at a good level.