2023 is an unsuccessful year not only for Vietnamese tuna exporters but also for Thailand in the Middle East market. Thailand's tuna exports to this market block decreased by 21% in value and 27% in volume compared to 2022. Therefore, the Middle East dropped to second place in the ranking of Thailand's export markets after the US, accounting for 22% of total export turnover in 2023.

However, entering 2024, Vietnam and Thailand's tuna exports to the Middle East are tending to recover. Notably, while Vietnam's tuna exports to this market block have unstable growth, Thailand's exports are growing continuously and increasingly. According to statistics from Thai Customs, the country's tuna exports to the Middle East in the first 2 months of 2024 reached nearly 124 million USD, up 26% over the same period in 2023.

Middle Eastern countries mainly import canned tuna from Thailand.

Among Middle Eastern countries, Saudi Arabia is the largest import market for Thai tuna; It is also the country's 5th largest single import market, accounting for 6.4% of Thailand's total tuna export turnover in 2023. Saudi Arabia is also one of the few Middle Eastern countries to increase imports of Thai tuna in the past year.

In this market block, Thailand is also the main source of tuna, ranked second is Vietnam. In recent years, Middle Eastern tuna importers have tended to expand imports from other countries to avoid dependence on Thailand, including Vietnam, China or Seychelles. Therefore, competition in this market is increasing.

In recent years, although Vietnamese businesses have made efforts to expand their market scale in the Middle East, Vietnam's market share is still much lower than that of Thailand. This Southeast Asian country is far superior to Vietnam in terms of production capacity and raw material import conditions.

Source: VASEP