According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, as of June 15, 2024, Vietnam's shrimp export turnover to China & Hong Kong reached 295 million USD, an increase of 19% YoY.

Although the cumulative number is still increasing, Vietnam's shrimp exports to China have gradually decreased from January to April, and in May there were signs of a large decrease.

According to VASEP, Vietnam's shrimp prices are high, making it difficult to compete with rival supplies and China's domestic supply. Especially in the context of China's economic growth slowing down, people in this country are tightening their spending.

VASEP predicts that from June to September this year, shrimp exports from Vietnam to China will not increase; even decrease because this country may focus on increasing output purchases from Ecuador, India and Indonesia (which are markets subject to high anti-dumping taxes in the US market). However, Vietnamese shrimp also has advantages in China when it has a bright red color after processing, suitable for the tastes of consumers in this country. Meanwhile, Ecuadorian shrimp have a light red color due to being raised in earthen ponds.

China also has high demand for small-sized shrimp, suitable for Vietnam's supply capacity while other countries cannot supply large quantities.

VASEP believes that it is expected that China's demand for shrimp imports will increase again from the third quarter of 2024 to serve the period of National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival (from September 17 to October 7).

At the conference to summarize the work of the first 6 months of the year and deploy the work plan for the last 6 months of 2024 of the fisheries industry held on July 3, VASEP representative said that; The shrimp industry in 2024 will hardly reach the target of 4 billion USD in turnover when the first half of the year only reached 1.6 billion USD.Currently, the shrimp industry is facing difficulties both domestically and internationally. Accordingly, shrimp export prices to markets are low, highly competitive with Ecuador and India. In particular, although Ecuador's shrimp industry faces many difficulties in 2024, the country still increases exports and floods markets, including Japan, Australia, and the EU (markets where Ecuadorian shrimp is less competitive). Ecuaodr currently has a large market share in markets such as the US and China.The shrimp industry is also facing disease problems, specifically white opaque liver disease TPD. According to VASEP, if this problem is not resolved, it can create a risk of fuel shortage

Source: Mekong Asean