In June 2024, the country's seafood exports are estimated to reach 875 million USD, up 14% over the same period last year. This is also the month with the highest export turnover from the beginning of the year until now. Accordingly, cumulative seafood exports in the first half of this year brought in over 4.4 billion USD, up nearly 7% over the same period in 2023.

Exports of most key products had high growth in June: pangasius increased by 22%, tuna increased by 40%, and crab increased by 59%. Shrimp products alone increased slightly by 7%. Squid and octopus are the only products that decreased slightly compared to the same period last year.

In the first half of this year, shrimp exports brought in more than 1.6 billion USD, 7% higher than the same period last year. Of which, whiteleg shrimp reached nearly 1.2 billion USD, a slight increase of 3%, and black tiger shrimp reached over 200 million USD, a decrease of 10%. Lobster exports alone increased 57 times over the same period, reaching more than 130 million USD.

Pangasius exports in the first half of this year reached 922 million USD, up nearly 6% over the same period. Although demand has improved, export prices to markets are still low, such as China, EU, UK... Only the US market has better signals in terms of both price and import volume.

Tuna exports in the first half of this year increased nearly 25% to 477 million USD, mainly thanks to the strong increase in the canned and bagged fish segment. Meanwhile, squid and octopus exports decreased slightly by 1% to 289 million USD, of which squid products decreased, while octopus exports still increased.

In addition to tuna, there are many marine fish products that have strong demand and sales in the first half of this year. In particular, seabass had an export growth of 27% reaching over 36 million USD, yellow snapper increased by 14% reaching over 29 million USD; Mackerel increased by 6%, pollock increased by 8% to reach 38 million USD, amberjack increased by 96%. Some freshwater fish species with increased import demand include: red tilapia increased by 32%, perch increased by 18%, eel increased by 93%.

Seafood exports to the top 2 largest markets, the US and China - HK, both recorded high growth in June: to the US increased by 14%, to China - HK increased by 18%. The US economy this year has positive signs. Inflation in the US has dropped rapidly from 9% to 3% this year. The US will soon move to cut interest rates this year to stimulate consumption, so there will be good opportunities for exporters. In the first half of the year, seafood exports to the US reached 733 million USD, an increase of 9%. Meanwhile, exports to China - Hong Kong in the first half of the year increased by 7% to 766 million USD.

Exports to Japan in June only increased slightly by 2% over the same period. By the end of June 2024, seafood exports to Japan reached 705 million USD, a slight decrease of 1% compared to the first half of 2023. The Japanese Yen depreciated 12% compared to the USD and is the currency that has lost the most value in the world. Strong foreign currencies are a factor causing the country's imports to decrease. In addition, the disadvantages caused by China banning Japanese seafood imports also contributed to Japan's imports slowing down.

Exports to the EU market alone had the highest growth rate (+40%) in June. Accumulated in the first half of 2024, seafood exports to the EU reached 513 million USD, up 12% over the same period last year. The EU market is gradually stabilizing. Market prices and consumption are stabilizing, and seafood inflation continued to decline to 2.1% in May. Since March, inflation has fallen even more significantly for frozen seafood , with a negative inflation rate of 0.9% in May. It is forecast that EU seafood demand and imports will increase again after the summer vacation in Europe.

Hopefully this year the export situation will stabilize in accordance with the normal cycle, accelerating in the third and fourth quarters; Accordingly, export turnover will be about 15% higher than the same period in 2023, reaching over 5.5 billion USD, bringing export results for the whole year 2024 to nearly 10 billion USD, an increase of 12% compared to 2023.

Source: VASEP