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Vietnam whiteleg shrimp exports grew strongly after 5 years

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By Milthon Lujan

In the 5 years (2015-2019), Vietnam’s shrimp industry has achieved positive results in production and export. Shrimp farming area increased by an average of 1.4% per year, while production rose by an average of 5.7% annually, mainly due to improved whiteleg shrimp productivity. The production of whiteleg shrimp elevated sharply by nearly 41% after 5 years with an average increase of 9% per year. Meanwhile, black tiger shrimp production went up by an average of 1.2% and only increased by 3.1% after 5 years; productivity did not have a significant growth compared to whiteleg shrimp.

Shrimp exports in the past 5 years achieved an average annual growth of 4% with an unstable annual growth. After 5 years, whiteleg shrimp exports have become increasingly dominant in export shrimp products thanks to strong growth.

Frozen shrimp products still accounted for a large proportion of Vietnam’s total shrimp exports. Processed shrimp accounted for a significant proportion only in some major markets (the US, EU, Japan). The proportion of processed shrimp in the US market was the highest, followed by the EU, Japan, then South Korea, while ASEAN and China represented for low proportion.

Vietnam’s top 6 shrimp importing markets included EU, the US, Japan, China and South Korea, accounting for 81-85% of the total shrimp import value in the last 5 years. Since 2017, the US and EU have exchanged positions because shrimp exports to the US have declined continuously and sharply decreased than the EU market. During this period, exports to China had the strongest breakthrough with an average annual growth of 16% and after 5 years increased by over 55%. After China, South Korea was also a notable market in the past 5 years, followed by the EU.

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In general, regarding the import tax on shrimp products in major markets, Vietnam’s products have advantages compared to other exporting countries such as Indonesia, India, Thailand, China, especially in markets signed FTA agreement with Vietnam. This will continue to be an advantage for Vietnam’s shrimp exports in 2020 and in coming years.

However, the corona epidemic has been affecting shrimp production and export to markets in 2020, thus limiting the growth of shrimp industry this year, though the level of influence for each market will be different.

VASEP has released a Report on Vietnam shrimp sector, 2015 – 2019 (Vietnamese – English bilingual, 50 pages), providing detailed information and data on production and export movements of each major shrimp species to markets; assessing shrimp supply and demand trends in markets; comparing the export price, import tax of shrimp of Vietnam and other exporting countries in the markets; simultaneously evaluate the prospects of production and export to each market, the impact of the corona epidemic (opportunities, challenges and forecast on export turnover) in 2020.

Please see the details of the Report on Vietnam shrimp sector, 2015 – 2019 here

Source: VASEP

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