In April 2024, seafood exports increased by 4.5% to reach 775 million USD. In particular, positive signals are clearly seen in both demand and export prices in some major markets, especially the US, EU and China markets.

In April, seafood exports to the US increased by 10% over the same period in 2023, reaching 141 million USD. Exports increased thanks to the strong recovery of tuna, pangasius and marine fish products. Meanwhile, exports of shrimp, crab and octopus are still 2-3% lower than the same period in 2023. Although there are only preliminary results, the lawsuit against shrimp import subsidies from four countries including Vietnam has affected shrimp exports to the US; Because immediately after preliminary results are available, importers must pay a deposit when importing shrimp.

Pangasius exports to the US alone increased by 34% in April. The average price of pangasius exports has tended to gradually improve in the first 4 months of this year; from a low of 2.4 USD/kg in December 2023, it has reached 2.9 USD/kg in April 2024. In general, the average price of frozen pangasius exports to the US in the first 4 months of this year increased by about 24% compared to the same period last year.

In contrast to the US market, pangasius exports to China continue to fall in price. By April 2024, the price of pangasius exports to China dropped to the lowest level since July 2021, reaching 1.89 USD/kg. However, China is still Vietnam's largest pangasius import market.

By the end of April, Vietnamese seafood exports to China reached 406 million USD, an increase of 11% over the same period last year. In April alone, exports to this market only increased by 4% to 130 million USD. Of these, the two main products, shrimp and pangasius, only increased slightly by 4-5%; Only crab and shellfish increased dramatically: specifically, crab exports to China increased more than 11 times, shellfish exports increased more than 3 times.

China's economy is slowing down, making consumers more cautious in spending, importers are forced to focus on cheaper products, so pangasius is increasingly gaining a foothold in this market. Much cheaper than Chinese domestic fish species such as carp, tilapia, and fruit fish, pangasius is popular with consumers in this country, especially families who want to cook at home. Pangasius is also a species that mothers love to make children's menus because of its white fish characteristics, soft meat, few bones and nutritious...

In addition, thanks to the recovery in consumption in the hotel restaurant and tourism segments, Vietnam's fresh seafood exports to China this year have had breakthrough growth. In the first 4 months of this year, live seafood exported to China alone had revenue more than 4 times higher than the same period last year, reaching over 104 million USD, accounting for nearly 26% of seafood export value to this market. Typical aquatic species exported to China are blue lobsters, crabs, snails, silk clams, eels, mantis shrimps...

Notably, in April, exports to the EU market had the highest growth rate among the main markets, with an increase of 22%. Of which, black tiger shrimp exports to the EU increased 3 times, white leg shrimp increased 32%, pangasius increased 27%, and tuna exports increased 70%. Many markets in the bloc increased seafood imports from Vietnam, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy...

Inflation in Europe is still the main problem affecting seafood consumption. The inflation rate in March 2024 is 2.4%, still higher than the set target of 2%. However, FAO's report shows that seafood prices showed signs of increasing sharply in April. The supply of some white fish species such as cod and flounder decreased in the EU, causing prices to increase. Skipjack tuna prices in the European market remained stable while yellowfin tuna prices increased sharply due to high demand. Prices of steamed, once-cleaned skipjack tuna are stable. Squid and octopus prices are gradually increasing in the summer months and are likely to increase further in the next few months. The price of pangasius exported to the EU also tends to gradually increase again: by April 2024, the average price of pangasius reached 2.55 USD/kg, the highest level since October 2023. However, whiteleg shrimp prices in the EU are still low in the context of abundant supply from Ecuador.

Export results in April showed that there were favorable changes in the markets. Therefore, in the first 4 months of the year, seafood exports brought in over 2.7 billion USD, up 6% over the same period in 2023. This trend may continue to improve in the second quarter and make a breakthrough in the second half of the year if conditions and raw material sources, raw material prices and input costs for production; export processing will be stable in the coming time.

Source: VASEP