According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), thanks to a breakthrough increase in the last months of the year, seafood export turnover has exceeded the target with over USD 8.9 billion.

According to VASEP, Covid-19 had seriously affected seafood production and export, especially in the third quarter. However, thanks to the Government's Resolution 128, which temporarily stipulates "Safely adapting, flexibly, effectively controlling the Covid-19 pandemic", the industry has made a spectacular comeback in the last months of the year.

Seafood exports last year increased by 6% compared to 2020, which is considered a result exceeding expectations. Earlier, Vietnam's seafood industry set a target of USD 8.8 billion in export turnover in 2021. Specifically, after a sharp increase of 23% in November, seafood exports in December continued to increase by 29%, reaching over USD 940 million. In the last month of the year, exports of key products increased sharply by 6-110%.

In the past year, the US was still Vietnam's largest seafood consumption market, accounting for 23% of turnover, with over USD 2 billion, an increase of 26% over the previous year. In December 2021 alone, seafood exports to the US reached USD 176 million, an increase of 32% over the same period in 2020.

The EU market accounted for 12% of the total turnover, with over USD 1 billion, an increase of 12% compared to 2020. While exports to CPTPP countries earned about  USD 2.2 billion, almost equivalent to that of 2020.

In terms of products, thanks to a breakthrough increase in December, with a growth of about 80%, pangasius exports for the whole year 2021 have far exceeded the set target, with over USD 1.6 billion, an increase of 10%. Shrimp exports last year also reached  USD 3.88 billion, an increase of 4%. Tuna export reached USD 757 million; Squid, octopus reached over USD 600 million. Experts are of the opinion that shrimp is still the leading product of Vietnam's seafood export industry in the coming years.

In 2021, seafood is one of six items with large export turnover belonging to the group of agro-forestry-fishery products, along with timber and wood products, cashew nuts, rubber, vegetables and rice. In which, seafood accounts for 18.3% of this commodity group ( USD 8.9 billion compared to the whole group of USD 48.6 billion). Compared to the total export turnover of the country last year, which was USD 336 billion, seafood export accounted for 2.6%.

Kylie Nguyen