Tuna export to China sees threefold increase

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), starting from August 2021, Vietnam’s tuna export markets simultaneously saw decline. China is among few markets witnessing growth compared to the same period last year.

In the first eight months of 2021, Vietnam’s tuna export to China was valued at 3.6 million USD, up 63% year on year. From the end of May 2021, Zhanjiang, one of the major transshipment hubs in China, announced it suspended the import of frozen food from major seafood producing countries including India, Vietnam and Thailand along with 8 other Asian countries due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic.

In addition, the outbreak of the 4th COVID-19 wave in Vietnam since the end of July has slowed down Vietnam’s tuna exports to the market.

According to statistics of the Vietnam General Department of Customs, China is increasing imports of frozen tuna meat, fillet coded HS0304 and canned tuna from Vietnam. Among Vietnam’s export tuna products to this market, frozen tuna meat and fillets accounted for 66% of the total export value, followed by canned tuna at 19%.

According to Ms. Nguyen Ha, VASEP’s tuna market expert, about 23 Vietnamese tuna processing and exporting enterprises now participate in exporting to the Chinese market. If the disease control situation in the Mekong Delta is better, businesses will resume production and export stably, and increasing exports to this market will maintain a high growth momentum./.