Shrimp exports reach over 1 billion USD

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Vietnam's shrimp exports in the first 6 months of 2013 are estimated at 1.031 billion USD, up 1.5% over the same period in 2012.

Accordingly, VASEP forecasts that shrimp exports to the US will hardly grow positively in the second and third quarters. The preliminary decision of the US Department of Commerce on anti-subsidy tax (CVD) on shrimp imported from 7 countries, of which Vietnam is subject to a high tax rate of 6.07%, has created, is creating and will create a heavy psychological burden on Vietnamese shrimp exporters and US shrimp importers.

The final decision will be made in mid-August 2013, but it is likely that Vietnamese shrimp exported to the US will be subject to two types of taxes at the same time (anti-dumping tax and CVD tax). Meanwhile, Ecuador and Indonesia are the two countries that have been preliminarily concluded to have no government subsidies for the shrimp industry. This factor will contribute to creating momentum for the two countries to boost shrimp exports to the US while other countries face obstacles.

VASEP also forecasts that shrimp exports to Japan will be more stable but not increase sharply. The reason is that Japan's import demand increases according to the annual cycle, combined with low reserves due to restrictions on shrimp imports from Vietnam and India, which will help increase shrimp exports to Japan in the second and third quarters.

However, VASEP also said that Japan's policy of devaluing the Yen against the USD has been causing many difficulties for shrimp imports and consumption in this country.

In addition, the Ethoxiquin inspection regulation continues to hinder the import of Vietnamese shrimp into this country. Therefore, it is forecasted that Vietnam's shrimp exports to this market in both the second and third quarters will only increase slightly, from 1-3% compared to the same period in 2012.

Notably, VASEP forecasts that Vietnam's shrimp exports to the EU market will continue to be gloomy in both the second and third quarters, as the economic situation in this region has not shown signs of recovery and will continue to maintain negative double-digit growth.

According to (baocongthuong) - PH