Experts and businesses expect Vietnam’s seafood exports to recover and grow again in the last months of 2023.

The Vietnam Association of Exporters and Processors (VN) (VASEP) said that in the first seven months of 2023, it is estimated that Vietnam’s seafood exports will reach nearly 5 billion USD, down 25% over the same period in 2022. However, recently, inventories from Vietnam’s export markets have gradually decreased. Accordingly, year-end consumption demand in these markets will be an opportunity for Vietnam’s exports to increase again.

Mr. Ong Hang Van, Deputy General Director of Truong Giang Seafood Company (Dong Thap), said that due to the impact of economic recession, high inflation, and reduced consumption demand, in the first two quarters of 2023, Vietnam’s export output will decrease. The current challenge of businesses is how to overcome the remaining months of 2023 to gain stable momentum in the first and second quarters of 2024.

“In our opinion, the necessary solution is to reduce inventories as well as aquaculture output by the second quarter of 2024, as there is currently reduced export demand. For example, the amount of pangasius in the pond instead of catching the correct size of 900 g-1 kg, is now 1.5 kg. Invisibility leads to an increase in the inventory of large enterprises and the amount of fish under the pond, causing the cash flow of enterprises to be congested,” Mr. Van said.

Some other enterprises shared that for pangasius there are many factors to pay attention to such as breed, feed, medicine and disease. In particular, for aquatic feed before the epidemic, 10,000 VND/kg up to now, the average increase is 13,000/kg. In addition, to process aquatic feed, Vietnamese enterprises import soybean residues from India, Argentina, the US … Entry prices have now increased by 30%.

In the shrimp industry, Ho Quoc Luc, Chairman of Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company, said Vietnam’s shrimp exports are on the rebound but not strongly. The reason is that the pressure of cheap shrimp from Ecuador is still abundant.

For example, in August, shrimp exports only decreased by 15% over the same period, while in the first seven months of the year decreased by 28%. “However, third-quarter orders are on track to recover better than previous quarters,” Luc said.

According to exporting enterprises, in the coming time, in order to recover export activities, Vietnam’s seafood industry needs to do strong and continuous communication to three major markets: China, the US and the EU. Especially pangasius products, enterprises need to promote the image of pangasius raised in a clean environment; are controlled by the State to ensure quality, granted environmental certificates of the world…

According to Mr. Hu, for the conflict situation in some countries, the ban on seafood imports from China is still new, not having much impact on the market.

However, China is the world’s factory, if the country does not import processed frozen seafood, the Vietnamese market is the best choice. At the same time, Japan is the country that buys the most Vietnamese shrimp, so there will be great opportunities for shrimp enterprises to export to this market.

Meanwhile, Mr. Quach Phong, representative of Ipos Market Research Company, said that Vietnamese seafood exported to China is mainly shrimp and basa fish. Currently, Vietnam’s seafood exports only meet a very small part of the market’s demand.

China may have previously imported goods from the EU, Canada, and the United States. When these sources do not meet the consumption needs of the people, causing the price of seafood in the country to increase, they will find alternative sources of import.

“Vietnamese seafood exporters should catch up with this situation and pay special attention to the demand for shrimp products,” Phong said.

Mr. Truong Dinh Hoe, General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Processors, said that China is a large seafood export market that Vietnamese enterprises expect after reopening (January 1-2023) consumer demand will increase. However, up to now, the market is not as predicted, so the inventory of Vietnamese enterprises is still high.

According to Mr. Hoe, at present, enterprises only hope that the Chinese market can recover as before the epidemic. He expects this time to fall into the preparation period to serve consumer demand at the end of the year and the Lunar New Year. This is the season when people in this country consume the most. Resonate objective factors and after importers settle relatively inventories, in the last months of the year import demand will increase again.

Economist Dr. Huynh Thanh Dien, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, said that after two years of implementing the “zero COVID” policy, China reopened but the purchasing power of this market decreased. This has affected Vietnam’s export industries.

According to Dr. Dien, in the context of the global economic slowdown, rising inflation, and decreasing consumption demand, the Government has also had many support policies for export enterprises in general and seafood in particular to restore production and business. So we need to try to overcome difficulties. Besides, find niche markets to wait for the general situation to stabilize again for better development opportunities.

(Source: https://plo.vn/)