Among Vietnam's shellfish export products, scallops are the third largest export product group after clams and snails. In 2024, Vietnam's exports of this product group grew continuously, in October alone, exports of this product group reached more than 8 million USD, an increase of 1,700% over the same period in 2023. In the first 10 months of 2024, the export of this product group reached more than 31 million USD, an increase of 206%.

Vietnam's scallop products have been exported to more than 20 markets around the world. In 2024, scallop exports to most markets increased compared to the same period. Of which, the US, Denmark and Japan are the 3 markets that import the most scallops from Vietnam.

Notably, in the US market, Vietnam's scallop exports to this market in 2023 were only a few sporadic orders, but in 2024, Vietnam's scallops have penetrated deeper into this market, with orders becoming larger and more regular every month. The value of scallop exports to the US in the first 10 months of 2024 reached more than 11 million USD, 131 times higher than the same period in 2023.

This year, scallop exports to Japan are also increasing "skyrocketingly" with an increase of 312% in the first 10 months of the year. Since China issued a ban on Japanese seafood due to the discharge of treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean in August 2023, Japan has continuously diversified its scallop export markets. According to the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Vietnam has many seafood processing factories, including scallops, so it has available production experience. Therefore, Japanese enterprises choose Vietnam as a processing location, from which they export to the US and ASEAN countries. Since the beginning of this year, Japanese seafood enterprises have begun piloting the processing of Hokkaido scallops in Vietnam. A shipment of about 20 tons of scallops in the shell has been brought to Vietnam by a Japanese enterprise for processing, then exported back to Japan for sale to restaurants and retailers. This is also one of the reasons why Vietnam's scallop exports to this market have increased sharply.

In contrast to the export trend to the US and Japan, scallop exports to Denmark have tended to decrease.

It is expected that Vietnam's scallop exports will continue to grow strongly in the coming time.

Source: VASEP