VASEP targets seafood exports of $10 billion for 2024

VIETNAM, July 9 - HÀ NỘI — VASEP expects seafood exports in the second half of the year to increase by 15 per cent to over $5.5 billion, bringing exports for the year to nearly $10 billion, up 12 per cent from 2023, Nguyễn Thị Thu Sắc, chairwoman of the Việt Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has said.

Companies must also diversify export market to avoid dependence on traditional export markets and develop the domestic market.

Although seafood exports have prospered, they continue to face many difficulties due to uncertainties in the world economy, according to Sắc.

Trần Văn Minh, director of Nha Trang Seafoods F89 JSC in southern Bạc Liêu Province, said to address With difficulties and challenges from the world economic downturn and geopolitical conflicts, the company has adjusted its production and business strategies to improve shrimp export efficiency to the US and EU markets.

Along with that, it has been looking into selling into other markets, especially the Asian and Latin American countries.

The company is also paying attention to the raw material of shrimp and production, to create quality export products with high competitiveness, meeting strict standards in the US and EU markets.

Therefore, it has promoted cooperation with farmers and cooperatives via product consumption contracts. At the same time, it has given the farmers supports in terms of techniques, breed selection, animal feed, veterinary medicine, disease control and methods of preserving raw materials after harvests.

VASEP reported that a slight increase in the seafood export value in the first half of this year over the same period, being a positive sign for this industry.

However, the shrimp industry continues to face many challenges as the world economic situation shows no signs of recovery and inflation remains high.

Đỗ Ngọc Tài, chairman of VASEP Shrimp Committee and general director of Tài Kim Anh Seafood Processing JSC, said high inflation in the US market combined with a sudden increase in shipping rates since May have led to Vietnamese shrimp facing strong competition in terms of price compared to Ecuadorian, Indian and Indonesian shrimp. It has caused Vietnamese shrimp to increase by only one per cent over the same period in the US market.

Seafood exports to EU had a higher growth rate, thanks to the recovery from April. The EU market's demand for shrimp imports is expected to increase slightly until the end of the year, especially value-added products, because inventories have decreased significantly.

Meanwhile, Japan is still considered a market with stable import demands, although Việt Nam's shrimp exports in the first half of this year decreased over the same period.

Việt Nam's value-added products in this market are still maintain a better competitive advantage compared to the products from other suppliers such as India and Ecuador. Japan's import demand is expected to increase from September to serve year-end demand, Tài said.

The product with growth prospects is surimi. Việt Nam's surimi export value each year reached $300-420 million, accounting for 4-5 per cent of Việt Nam's total seafood export turnover, said Ngô Minh Phương, director of Việt Trường Co. Ltd.

This product has stable export volumes and consumers love it because of its high nutritional value and reasonable cost, and that it is easy to prepare into many dishes, according to Phương.

Along with seizing opportunities from the market, companies also need to solve challenges in domestic production. For example, the price of Vietnamese shrimp is still quite high due to low farming returns.

The quality of shrimp seeds, farming processes, small farming scales and lack of capital have all affected the production and quality of shrimp. At the same time, infrastructure has not responded requirements on quality product to cause the ponds to not have enough clean water for farming shrimp, said Hồ Quốc Lực, chairman of Sao Ta Food JSC (FIMEX VN).

In the first six months of 2024, Việt Nam's seafood export value reached $4.36 billion, an increase of 4.9 per cent over the same period in 2023, according to VASEP.

Among the top five export markets of Vietnamese seafood products, the US is the largest market, followed by China, the EU, Japan and South Korea.— VNS