According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), shrimp product always keeps ranking top in Vietnam seafood export. By the end of the last August, the value of shrimp export accounts for over 50% of the total seafood export turnover, an increase of 8.8% compared to the same period last year. As the demand shrimp increases, the shrimp order in the US market has been pushed prices in India, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam to increase in the recent months. Vice Chairman of VASEP, Mr. Nguyen Huu Dung said, early mortality syndrome (EMS) of shrimp in the world has not had good signal of control yet. The supply of shrimp in the world market is slowly improved. In addition, the US Department of Commerce imposed anti-dumping duties on Vietnam shrimp too high and unreasonable, which is causing difficulties for Vietnam exporters of shrimp. Thus, the balance between supply and demand of the world is upon shrimp farmers and producers. Finding export and expanding market are opportunities for Vietnam businesses.
Due to the shift of market, shrimp export to other markets has a tremendous growth this year. Vietnam shrimp exports to South Korea increases to 115% compared to that the same period last year. The market is the fifth largest shrimp import market of Vietnam. At the same time, Vietnam now becomes the largest supplier of shrimp to the Kimchi land. For the EU market, exports of shrimp increase nearly 100%. Especially in Japan, exporting shrimp tends to grow back up to 5% after months of being hindered by antibiotics barrier. Recently, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) has imposed anti-dumping tariffs on Vietnam shrimp during the 8th administrative review (POR 8). Minh Phu Seafood Group has been taxed 4.98%, Soc Trang Aquatic JSC taxed 9.75% and the tax rate for the whole country is 25.76%. According to Nguyen Huu Dung, this is the highest rate in the history of Vietnam shrimp export to US.
However, the Chairman of VASEP said that DOC imposed high tax to Vietnam impacts directly the US consumers. The supply of shrimp in the world this year greatly reduces by diseases; therefore, seeking other markets to offset will be very difficult. While the US shrimp production is mainly harvested from the gulf, which can only meet 10% of demand. Therefore, the supply of shrimp for US consumption depends heavily on import. US importers still have to get supply from Vietnam. The supply is limited along with the anti-dumping tax rate, which forces enterprises in Vietnam to raise prices.
According to Vo Quang Huy, Vice President of the My Thanh Shrimp Association in Soc Trang, due to the influence of early mortality syndrome, world shrimp market continues its low level. The powerhouse of shrimp producers importing more than exporting shrimp is Mexico, while shrimp production in Thailand is by far lower than last year. Indian supply is lower than it is expected. Only Ecuador shows an increase in output. Therefore, finding outlets is not too difficult for Vietnam enterprises. They should take advantage of this opportunity to increase export market share, as well as expanding export markets. With his business, Mr. Nguyen Van Kich, General Director of CAFATEX Fisheries JSC said that beside US - a large market, the business still finds a way to move market share in other markets. With the US market, now the enterprise only exports deep processed and high-benefit products.
Besides searching for solutions to expand the export market, businesses need to manage the value chain of supply to pro-actively respond to anti-dumping duties of annual DOC as well as the control of products' quality", Mr. Dung said. The world is in the shortage of shrimp due to diseases, thus, Vietnam has increased rapidly and actively farming area. According to the General Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, shrimp production tends to have favorable orientation. White shrimp price increases significantly over the same period last year, thus, the farming area increases sharply, especially in Mekong River Delta. In 9 months, the whole area of shrimp farming in this country reached 663,000 hectares, increasing by 5% compared to the same period last year, with 91,000ha of white shrimp (rising nearly 92%). Total shrimp production reaches 395,000 tons, up 50% compared to the same period last year. Especially, in Soc Trang, this is the first time that the aquaculture area of this year increased sharply. This contributes greatly to the development of Vietnam aquaculture in particular and boosts the strength of Vietnam export.