Shrimp exports drop sharply

According to Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam, Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), seafood export turnover in the first 6 months of the year reached about 3 billion USD, down 16% compared to the same period last year. Of which, the item with a large export proportion, shrimp (in 2014, it accounted for about 50%) has had a sharp decrease (about 28%), reaching 1.3 billion USD.

Illustration photo. (Source: vtv.vn)

Regarding the shrimp market, Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam said that usually in June, importers from the US and Europe buy a lot. This year, the trend is not like previous years, the demand has decreased. It is possible that importers are expecting a price decrease, when the world supply is currently high. For example, white leg shrimp (70 pieces/kg) in 2014 in India was around 340 rupees/kg but in June 2015 it was only 220 rupees/kg. The same downward trend also occurred in Thailand.

For Vietnam, shrimp prices have also decreased but not as much as in the above countries. Maybe importers are in need of goods but they are buying sparingly, Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam commented.

The second trend pointed out by Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam is about shrimp size. White leg shrimp is a trend among importers, but they import more small sizes. Therefore, up to now, there have not been many orders signed, even from countries like India and Thailand.

It is worth noting that most shrimp import markets have decreased, especially the US market. This is a large market that often dominates both volume and price. Since the beginning of the year, this market has continuously decreased significantly, up to 52%. For example, in May, Vietnam exported the most, only over 48 million USD, down 46% compared to May last year. Other markets such as Japan, ASEAN and Australia also decreased.

Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam said that there are only 2 markets that have increased, but they are markets that have not been in the calculations of businesses up to now: the UK and Singapore. Like the UK, this market used to import only 3-4 million USD per month, but in May it imported about 9.5 million USD.

According to Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam, the reason is more about the market aspect than the production aspect. Firstly, the early mortality syndrome (EMS) disease has been overcome in many major producing countries, so the global supply has increased from 3.4 million tons to 3.6 million tons. In addition, there are tariff incentives, so Europe is more inclined to import shrimp from America than Asia.

The second reason is that demand in major markets (as of June, the peak of the market) is still weaker than in previous years. The third reason is the price drop. When prices drop to balance supply and demand, the signing of orders or the concentration of goods will be different from previous years.

Through assessing the shrimp export situation, Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam said that the expected export of 3.9 billion USD from shrimp like last year is a successful number./.

According to the Communist Party of Vietnam