Saving Seafood

COVID-19 accelerating negative trends for pangasius sector

May 28, 2020 — The coronavirus has delivered a large blow to Vietnam’s pangasius sector, which was already hurting before the pandemic.

Vietnam has not recorded any COVID-19 deaths through the crisis, and the entire country has only seen around 300 cases of the disease due to the extensive preventative measures it took beginning in January. But while most of social and economic activities in Vietnam have been brought back to a “new normal” since late April, disruptions in foreign markets, tangled supply chains, and suppressed demand have hurt its seafood export sector, upon which the country’s pangasius traders depend heavily.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Shrimp problems in Vietnam portend possible global shortage

April 22, 2020 — Glimpsing beyond a current lack of demand from Vietnam’s major export markets, executives at the country’s top shrimp trading firms are expressing deepening concern about a possible global shortage of shrimp in the latter half of the year.

Once COVID-19 began to spread beyond its origins in China, one by one, Vietnam’s shrimp-trading partners have significantly throttled down their imports. Starting in late February and early March, many importers in Europe stopped receiving cargoes, and by mid-March, customers in North America, the rest of Asia, the Middle East, and South America also increasingly decided to cancel or postpone orders. Stockpiles rose as companies could not export as planned, according to numerous executives interviewed by SeafoodSource. As a result, Vietnam’s export value of shrimp declined nearly 15 percent year-on-year to USD 207.7 million (EUR 190 million) in March, according to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New government rules threaten Vietnam’s tuna sector

March 7, 2019 — Tuna importers and exporters in Vietnam are complaining that their business operations have been severely impacted due to new requirements from the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, according to statements from Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

There are two circulars from the ministry that are now affecting both importers and exporters of tuna, VASEP said.

On 25 December, 2018, the ministry issued a revised circular, effective 10 February this year, which stated that consignments imported from ships at the oceans via transit ports in other countries must now submit a certification document or they will not be cleared. The document must include name of the ships, their registration numbers, their flag states, names and volumes of the catches, unloading time and location, and preservation conditions. The document, provided by authorities at the transit ports, must also certify that the catches are kept as at their original state and have not been under any processing phases.

VASEP, however, said most of the countries and territories through which VASEP members import their tuna refuse to provide such a document. Only Thailand and the Philippines had agreed to begin providing the certification, but even their documents do not contain all information required by Vietnamese authorities, VASEP said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Vietnam boosts tuna exports to US in October, thanks to trade war

December 7, 2018 — The tariff conflict between the United States and China has enabled Vietnam and other tuna exporters to increase shipments to the United States and this trend is expected to continue in the coming months, Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said in a statement last week.

In October, Vietnam exported tuna worth USD 26 million (EUR 22.9 million) to the United States, soaring 35 percent from the same month in 2017 and up 36.8 percent month-on-month. The rise in October was reached following continuous declines in the previous months. And it was made when U.S. importers suspended cargoes from China due to higher duties, said VASEP.

The value of tuna exports from Vietnam to the United States in the first 10 months stood at USD 183 million (EUR 161.2 million), down nearly 3 percent from the same period last year.

Read the full story at Seafood Source