The Vietnam - United Arab Emirates - UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed after just over a year of negotiations. With the high demand for seafood in the UAE, especially shrimp and fish products, the Vietnamese tuna industry is expected to have more opportunities to increase exports and increase product value thanks to incentives from CEPA.

According to statistics from Vietnam Customs, the value of Vietnam's tuna exports to the UAE, after declining in 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, has grown continuously in the following years. The value of tuna exports to this market increased from 1.6 million USD in 2019 to nearly 4 million USD in 2023, an increase of 139% in 5 years. Vietnam is currently one of the 3 largest tuna suppliers to this market. Entering 2024, tuna exports to this market are unstable, increasing and decreasing erratically. By the end of September 2024, tuna exports to the UAE were only at a level nearly equivalent to the same period in 2023.

The UAE is mainly importing frozen tuna meat/loins from Vietnam, code HS0304. In addition, this market also imports a small amount of canned tuna from Vietnam.

Tuna products imported into the UAE are subject to a 5% tax rate. Businesses expect this market to be more open if the FTA between Vietnam and the UAE comes into effect, reducing the import tax on seafood to 0%. This will increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese tuna products in this market.

Besides tariffs, the biggest difficulty for businesses exporting to the UAE is the requirements of importers related to Halal certification. Accordingly, the product must not contain any ingredients prohibited by Islamic law; the product must not come into contact with any means or equipment made from materials not permitted by Islamic law, throughout the production process; and during that process the product must not come into contact with any nutritious food made from ingredients not accepted by Islamic law. This problem is being addressed by businesses.

Currently, the UAE is the leading economy in the Arab countries and ranks 17th out of 61 highly competitive economies in the world, the average seafood consumption per capita is higher than the world average, the agricultural economic structure accounts for less than 1%, so up to 90% of the country's seafood consumption comes from imports. Moreover, the economy of this Middle Eastern country is considered the most stable in the world.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is forecasting that the UAE's GDP is expected to grow steadily at 4% in 2024 and reach 5.1% in 2025. Although the Middle East and Central Asia region is only forecast to grow at 2.4% and 3.9% in 2024 and 2025, the UAE still stands out thanks to its growing non-oil economy and effective public policies.

With these factors, the UAE is suitable to become one of the important trading partners of the Vietnamese tuna industry.

Source: VASEP