Seafood exports in September 2021 continued to decrease by 23%, the way to recovery was still "precarious"

Seafood exports in September 2021 continued to decrease by 23%, the way to recovery was still "precarious"

In the first half of September 2021, the country's seafood exports continued to be heavily affected by production interruptions, so they decreased deeply by 31% over the same period. The easing of the gap since mid-September has boosted the production recovery somewhat, reflected in the export results in the second half of the month. Accordingly, seafood export turnover in September 2021 reached over USD 628 million, down 23% over the same period last year.

Thus, by the end of the third quarter of 2021, the country's seafood exports reached nearly $6.2 billion, up 3% over the same period last year.

In September, exports of pangasius and other marine fish continued to decline sharply (down 36% and 65% respectively) over the same period, while shrimp exports decreased by 21%, tuna decreased by 14%, squid and octopus decreased by 12%.

By the end of September 2021, shrimp exports reached 2.76 billion USD, up 2.6% over the same period of which whiteleg shrimp increased by 10% to reach 2.14 billion USD, while black tiger shrimp decreased by 1.7%, reached $422 million. Pangasius exports in the first 9 months of the year increased by 3.2%, reaching over 1 billion USD. Tuna exports also maintained an increase of 9% to US$520 million in the first three quarters of the year, while squid and octopus exports increased slightly by 2% to US$404.8 million. After a sharp decline for 2 consecutive months, exports of other marine fish by the end of September 2021 have decreased by nearly 5% over the same period to reach US$1.15 billion.

In September, seafood exports to the US recovered with a slight increase of 3% over the same period to reach US$159 million. Meanwhile, exports to other markets continued to decline, in which the largest decrease was China (down nearly 50%), exports to Japan, Canada, UK, Australia also decreased by 35-45%, while exports to the EU and Russia decreased by over 15%, to Korea decreased by 5%.

Seafood production and export in the second half of September 2021 showed signs of recovery, especially in some key shrimp provinces such as Ca Mau, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and the central coastal provinces. The seafood industry is expecting better results from October when it "opens" in Ho Chi Minh City with policies to support production recovery. But the reality of "half-opening and half-closing" in localities and unpredictable developments of the Covid epidemic in the past few days shows that the way to recover seafood production and export is still "many uncertainties".

In the event that Covid still breaks out strongly in key seafood producing provinces, exports in October will continue to decrease by at least 25% over the same period. In the last two months of the year, despite efforts to adapt, the export capacity is only equivalent or slightly increased over the same period.

With this momentum, seafood exports in 2021 will be at best equal to 2020, reaching $8.4 billion. Even, exports will fall below $8.4 billion if the Covid situation is more tense and Covid prevention measures tighten production again. The consequences will last until next year if we lose market share in major import markets, to competitors such as India, Ecuador, Indonesia, and Thailand, although they have also been fighting the epidemic and producing.

Seafood exports in September 2021 and the first nine months of 2021 (million USD)