The United Arab Emirates is one of the customers consuming a lot of Vietnamese pangasius. Vietnam is also the largest source of pangasius in this market, accounting for 40 - 50% of the market share in the UAE. Pangasius exports to this West Asian country continue to receive strong acceptance and growth; Even though the CEPA Trade Agreement - the first free trade agreement that Vietnam negotiated with a country in the Middle East and Africa region, has not been signed.

According to data from Vietnam Customs, in May 2024, Vietnamese pangasius export turnover to the UAE reached more than 2 million USD, an increase of 40% compared to May 2024. Cumulative pangasius exports in the first 5 months of this year to this market reached more than 11 million USD, up 47% over the same period last year.

The main product of the pangasius industry exported to the UAE is still frozen pangasius fillets with code (HS 03046200). By the end of May 2024, exports of this product to the UAE reached about 6,000 tons, worth about 14 million USD; increased 22% in volume and 61% in value over the same period last year, accounting for 90% of the proportion. Followed by frozen, packaged pangasius products (HS code 03032400) with export turnover reaching about 1.3 million USD in the first 5 months of this year; increased 84% over the same period, accounting for 9% proportion.

The UAE has a series of suitable factors to become one of Vietnam's important trading partners such as: Ranked first in terms of economy among Arab countries and ranked 17th among 61 highly competitive economies in the world, seafood consumption per capita is higher than the world average; The agricultural economic structure accounts for less than 1%, so up to 90% of this country's seafood consumption comes from imports; Young people love proteins from seafood as the UAE's economy continues to expand,...By the end of 2023, Vietnam and the UAE have basically completed most of the negotiations on the Vietnam - UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which is expected to be signed in 2024.

The CEPA Agreement not only helps directly export goods to the UAE, but is also a stepping stone to help Vietnamese goods penetrate the Middle East market through the "UAE gateway" - a key market in the Middle East that is a focal point for Countries such as Africa, Latin America and Europe and Asia in general, thanks to good seaport infrastructure and developed aviation, can easily connect with markets.

However, the UAE is also one of the fiercely competitive markets in both price and quality and this is also the biggest challenge for Vietnamese businesses. Vietnam has to compete directly with a number of countries that have signed FTAs ​​with the UAE such as India, Indonesia, Israel and Turkey... because businesses of these countries have enjoyed preferential treatment when exporting goods to the UAE, so they have more competitive advantage compared to Vietnamese export enterprises.

Therefore, to further promote the export of Vietnamese goods to the UAE, Vietnamese enterprises need to apply advanced science and technology in production; change management methods, minimize intermediate costs, in order to reduce product prices and increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese products.

Source: VASEP