Aquatic exports to China plunge amid COVID-19 threats

Vietnamese seafood exports to China in April suffered a decline of 11%, and this downward trajectory continued in May with a fall of 22%, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

While major markets such as the United States and the EU have reopened and moved to increase imports of seafood products from Vietnam, China has recently tightened their inspection over frozen seafood products from other countries as part of efforts to prevent the potential spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

This has caused Vietnamese seafood exports to the market to experience a rapid decline over the past two months.

Most notably, aquatic exports fell sharply in all major product groups, including shrimp, down 35%, other fish species, with the exception of tuna, down 23%, and pangasius, down 5%.

The impact of the pandemic coupled with China's latest tight policy has led to turnover of frozen products to drop sharply, while the export of dried and processed goods has enjoyed an upward trend.

VASEP data show seafood exports to China over the past five months have decreased by 6% to US$405 million.