Entering the peak year-end export season, seafood enterprises are simultaneously facing multiple pressures regarding capital, labor, logistics, and rising input costs.

Multiple bottlenecks occur simultaneously

The seafood industry is entering its peak period for raw material purchasing, processing, and delivering shipments for year-end export orders. However, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), many enterprises in the sector are confronting a series of bottlenecks emerging at the same time, spanning from credit and labor to logistics and markets.

Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam - General Secretary of VASEP, stated that seafood is one of the core export commodity sectors of the agricultural area, creating employment and livelihoods for millions of laborers, farmers, and fishermen. However, for at least the past two months, the sector's production and business environment has been under the impact of multiple adverse factors, right at the time when enterprises need to accelerate production for the year-end export season.

One of the largest difficulties at present is the credit issue. According to VASEP, many enterprises possess good credit histories and export turnovers of hundreds of millions of USD annually, yet their actual credit limits are contracting. Meanwhile, the third and fourth quarters are the times when enterprises require a large volume of capital to purchase raw material shrimp and fish to serve processing and export.

Along with credit, logistics costs continue to serve as a burden for exporting enterprises. Accordingly, in June, many shipping lines adjusted and increased freight rates on core transportation routes. Specifically, shipping freight to the US East Coast rose by around 2,000 - 3,000 USD/container, to the US West Coast increased by over 1,000 USD/container, while the European route increased from 800 - 1,200 USD/container. For enterprises exporting tens of thousands of containers each year, this rate hike round creates substantial additional pressure on production costs and product prices.

In addition to capital and logistics issues, the seafood industry is also confronting a labor shortage situation across many key localities despite wage levels being adjusted upward. Certain bottlenecks regarding VAT on re-exported goods and shortcomings in FTA execution within the South Korean market are also considered by VASEP to be driving up costs and affecting the competitiveness of enterprises.

Packaging becomes a new burden

While pressures regarding capital, labor, and logistics have existed for many years, the seafood industry currently has to confront an additional new cost factor, which is sharply rising plastic packaging prices.

According to Ms. Phung Thi Kim Thu - shrimp market expert of VASEP, from the beginning of 2026 until now, the global raw material plastic market has continuously fluctuated under the impacts of oil prices, petrochemical supply risks, and instabilities across international maritime routes.

Disruptions related to oil and petrochemical flows through the Strait of Hormuz have tightened the global chemical supply. Meanwhile, the Middle East currently accounts for more than 40% of global polyethylene exports. This is a vital raw material in plastic packaging manufacturing.

In Vietnam, the prices of many plastic raw material types have surged strongly since the beginning of the year. A number of market sources recorded PE prices rising by around 15 - 30%, PP increasing by 12 - 25%, and PET rising from 15 - 30%. Particularly during the March and early April phase, the prices of certain raw material types at times jumped from around 25,000 VND/kg to over 40,000 VND/kg.

According to Ms. Kim Thu, the impact of this volatility has spread to sectors utilizing heavy packaging, including exported seafood.

For the seafood industry, packaging does not merely constitute an ultimate packing material but is directly tied to requirements for preservation, freezing, traceability, and satisfying the standards of each importing market. PE bags, PA/PE films, vacuum bags, laminated films, label-printed packaging, or carton liners are all indispensable inputs during the production process.

According to records by VASEP, the prices of packaging used in seafood processing have increased significantly over approximately the past three months. Depending on each product type and supplier, the increase fluctuates from 25 - 50%.

Packaging costs currently can account for around 3 - 6% of the product production cost, especially for deeply processed goods, value-added items, or retail products. This is also the product group that utilizes multiple packaging layers, requiring specific printing, labeling, and specifications according to each customer.

Unlike many other input types, seafood enterprises face difficulties in proactively stockpiling packaging in large quantities because the majority of products are specifically designed for each export market. Altering packaging specifications to reduce costs is also not easy to execute as it can affect trade requirements and consumption capabilities within importing markets.

In a context of increasingly fierce export competition, where raw material prices, logistics, and multiple input cost types rise together, pressure from packaging is becoming a new burden for seafood enterprises. According to VASEP, timely resolving the bottlenecks regarding capital, logistics, and taxes, and reducing input cost pressures will contribute to helping enterprises maintain orders, stabilize production, and firmly maintain the competitiveness of Vietnamese seafood in the international market.

Source: Bao Nong nghiep va Moi truong