The supply of seafood raw materials for processing and export in Vietnam currently relies on three main sources: fishing, marine farming and import. However, because the variety of marine farming seafood is still not abundant, most of the raw materials still depend on fishing. Meanwhile, new regulations related to exploitation are making the seafood industry more difficult...

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), seafood exports in the first 7 months of 2024 reached about 2.1 billion USD, up 6% over the same period last year.

Vietnamese seafood is exported to 129 markets, of which the 3 largest markets are Japan, the United States, and South Korea. Specifically, seafood export turnover to Japan reached 444 million USD, down 4%; to the United States reached 300 million USD, up 14%; to South Korea reached 207 million USD, up 12% over the same period last year.

TUNA EXPORT FACING DIFFICULTIES DUE TO NEW REGULATIONS

VASEP said tuna is still the leading seafood export item in terms of export value in Vietnam. In the first 7 months of 2024, tuna exports to the US and EU both recorded strong growth, at 22% and 36%, respectively. In addition, Vietnam's tuna exports to markets such as Israel, Russia and South Korea also witnessed good growth.

In the EU market, canned tuna is the main product, reaching 62 million USD, accounting for nearly 49% of tuna export turnover to this market. Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Italy, Cyprus and Denmark are the 6 largest tuna importing markets in the EU.

Of which, Poland and Denmark are the 2 countries that are strongly increasing their imports of canned tuna from Vietnam. On the contrary, the Netherlands has reduced imports of this item. The reason is that after the high transportation costs, EU countries tend to reduce tuna imports through Dutch transit ports, increasing direct imports to reduce costs.

However, tuna exports are currently facing difficulties in the exploitation stage, due to Decree 37/2024/ND-CP (effective from May 19, 2024) stipulating the smallest length allowed for exploitation for skipjack tuna is 0.5m.

According to VASEP, tuna processing and exporting enterprises are currently unable to purchase tuna raw materials in accordance with the new regulations. Some tuna enterprises have completely stopped purchasing domestically exploited skipjack tuna raw materials from fishermen because they cannot ensure 100% of the size is 0.5 meters or larger. Most fishing ports have now stopped certifying raw materials (S/C papers) for skipjack tuna shipments because the size of the exploited fish is smaller than the regulations of Decree 37.

“Although the regulation is based on scientific research and contributes to protecting aquatic resources, this regulation is causing many tuna processing and exporting enterprises to have a shortage of raw materials, and the risk of losing many large markets,” warned Mr. Vu Duyen Hai, Head of the Fisheries Exploitation Department of the Directorate of Fisheries. At the same time, Mr. Hai recommended that it should be adjusted as soon as possible.

Currently, enterprises do not have enough supply of skipjack tuna (the main raw material for the canned tuna processing and exporting industry) of pure origin for production and export. Therefore, it is expected that tuna exports will have difficulty maintaining growth from now until the end of the year. Therefore, it will be very difficult for the tuna industry to regain the 1 billion USD mark as targeted for 2024.

KOREA INCREASES IMPORT OF SQUID AND OCTOPUS

In the first 7 months of 2024, squid and octopus ranked second in terms of export turnover in the seafood group, reaching about 351 million USD, equivalent to the same period in 2023. Korea is the largest market for squid and octopus in Vietnam, with a turnover of 140 million USD, accounting for more than 40% of the total export value of this item, up 13% over the same period last year.

In this group, octopus is the main export product of Vietnam to Korea, accounting for 71.9%, squid accounting for 28.1%. Korea mainly imports from Vietnam frozen octopus, frozen cut octopus, frozen whole cleaned octopus, skinless dried squid, frozen button squid, etc.

According to VASEP, Korea is reducing imports from other sources such as Japan, China, Peru, so it is increasing imports from Vietnam. The supply of squid and octopus from China to markets such as South Korea has also decreased due to a shortage of raw materials for processing. It is expected that Vietnam's squid and octopus exports to South Korea will continue to grow positively in the following months of 2024.

Along with the main export products of tuna, squid and octopus, in the first 7 months of 2024, crab and other crustacean exports reached 83 million USD; bivalve mollusks reached 81 million USD, the rest were marine fish and other seafood. In the marine fish group, many marine fish products had strong export turnover growth such as: sea bass with an export growth of 27% reaching over 42 million USD, yellowstripe scad increased by 14% reaching over 34 million USD...

Currently, the supply of seafood raw materials for processing and export in Vietnam relies on three main sources: fishing, aquaculture and import. According to the Directorate of Fisheries, in 2023, the total output of marine aquaculture will reach 789.8 thousand tons, an increase of 10.1% compared to 2022, including: 46 thousand tons of marine fish; 3.8 thousand tons of lobster; 440 thousand tons of mollusks; 300 thousand tons of other seafood.

The expected output of marine aquaculture harvested in 2024 is more than 900 thousand tons. However, the variety of marine aquaculture products is still not diverse, mainly grouper, sea bass, lobster, bivalve mollusks... Many other types of seafood are being exported very strongly but cannot be farmed yet, such as: tuna, octopus, mackerel, yellowtail, pollock, orange croaker... Therefore, most of the seafood raw materials still depend on fishing.

STILL DIFFICULT TO REDUCE CATCH

According to the Directorate of Fisheries, the country currently has 85,980 fishing vessels, of which 39,867 are 6-12m long; 16,561 are 12-15m long; 27,022 are 15-24m long; and 2,530 are over 24m.

Recently, the Government Office issued Notice No. 371/TB-VPCP dated August 10, 2024, concluding the conclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang on solutions to overcome limitations in the fishing vessel monitoring system (VMS). Accordingly, to achieve the goal of removing the European Commission's (EC) IUU "yellow card" warning in 2024, it is necessary to focus on completing and effectively operating the VMS system from the central to local levels...

Source: VnEconomy