Aquatic product exports up 3 percent in Q1

• Aquatic companies’ profits hurt by disease
• US remains Vietnam’s largest aquatic export market

Vietnam’s export turnover of aquatic products in March has been estimated at around 640 million USD, bringing the total for the first quarter of the year to 1.64 billion USD, up 3 percent year-on-year.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the global shortage of containers began to improve in mid-March and China has loosened its pandemic control measures over imported goods, thus boosting Vietnam’s aquatic exports.

After increasing by 16 percent in January, shrimp exports were down 10 percent in February but bounced back to grow 10 percent in March. Total export turnover is estimated at 646 million USD in the first quarter, up nearly 3 percent year-on-year.

Tra fish exports, meanwhile, enjoyed growth of 11 percent in March after falling 5.5 percent during January-February. Vietnam earned a total of 336 million USD from exporting tra fish in the first quarter, a slight rise of 0.6 percent year-on-year.

Thanks to preferences in the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, the export of squid and octopus to the EU market is also recovering, pushing up export value by 8 percent in March.

Aquatic businesses said the COVID-19 pandemic remains serious in many traditional export markets, causing demand for several key Vietnamese aquatic products to fall but opening up more opportunities for dried and canned products.

VASEP predicts that aquatic exports will not recover strongly in April, with growth reaching only 10 percent to 680 million USD.