Vietnam aims for 9 bln USD worth of fishery exports in 2020

Vietnam’s aquatic product export value reached 8.6 billion USD last year in 2019, down 2.3 percent from the previous year.

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

Tuna contributed 728 million USD to total exports, a year-on-year increase of 12 percent, while exports of other saltwater fish reached 1.65 billion USD, representing 19.4 percent of the total and surging 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 by about 11.5 percent in 2019, with tuna and octopus experiencing the biggest contractions with 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.