Vietnams seafood exports up 8 percent last year

Hanoi – Vietnam’s seafood export value reached 3.2 billion USD last year, a 8-percent increase from a year earlier, the highest rate ever, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers.

In 2019, tuna contributes 728 million USD to the total exports, or 8.5 percent, a year-on-year increase of 12 percent. (Photo: VNA)

In 2019, Vietnam exported 8.6 billion USD worth of aquatic products, down 2.3 percent from the previous year.

Tuna contributed 728 million USD to the total exports, or 8.5 percent, a year-on-year increase of 12 percent while exports of other saltwater fish species reached 1.65 billion USD, representing 19.4 percent of the total exports and a surge of 15.8 percent year on  year.

The US, EU and ASEAN remained the largest buyers of Vietnamese tuna, importing 71 percent of the total last year, compared to 67 percent in 2018. The US topped the markets with 46 percent.

Exports of seafood and fishery products to the EU plunged further in 2019, at about 11.5 percent, with tuna and octopus experiencing the biggest contraction, 11 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

From being the second largest importer of Vietnam’s aquatic products, the EU fell to fifth, after the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and China, as a consequence of the EU’s yellow card.