(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In QIII/2016, Vietnam shrimp exports to China reached US$105.8 million USD; up 11.7% compared to QIII/2015 but down 12% compared to QII/2016. The decline was due to China's economic instability, the yuan devaluation, leading to temporary reduction in importing demand. Despite the decrease in the third quarter, shrimp exports to the market in the first 9 months of this year grew 30.3% to US$323.3 million.
China is the 4th largest market of Vietnam shrimp with the proportion of 14.4% of Vietnam’s total shrimp exports. This is also the largest importer of Vietnam black tiger shrimp. China is considered an alternative market with many potenitals in the context of decline in exports to traditional markets.
On Dec 15th 2015, the ban on importing live black tiger into China has been lifted, enabling enterprises to increase exports of black tiger to the market. China was the largest importer of Vietnam’s black tiger shrimp with the share of 58%; whiteleg shrimp with 39% and marine shrimp with 3%.
China mainly imported live/fresh/frozen shrimp (HS 03) from Vietnam. Exports of the item was 63-fold higher than that of processed black tiger shrimp.
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Vietnam’s shrimp products exported to China, Jan-Sep 2016
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Products
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Value (US$)
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Processed whiteleg shrimp (HS 16)
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5,053,006
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Processed other shrimp (HS 16)
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7,952,528
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Processed black tiger shrimp (HS 16)
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2,903,857
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Live/fresh/frozen whiteleg shrimp (HS 03)
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121,025,472
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Dried other shrimp (HS 03)
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361,997
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Live/fresh/frozen other shrimp (HS 03)
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2,804,370
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Live/fresh/frozen black tiger shrimp (HS 03)
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183,169,235
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Total
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323,270,464
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Source: VASEP (based on Vietnam Customs)
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According ITC, shrimp imports into China reached 102,843 MT in 2015; worth by US$754.5 million USD; up 31.7% in volume and 36% in value. Ecuador is the main supplier of shrimp to China, accounting for 25% of the total import value. Vietnam ranked the 10th among the major shrimp supplier to China, accounting for 1.4%. China tend to increase shrimp imports to meet demand for processing and domestic consumption, especially in the context of decline of domestic shrimp production due to disease.
.JPG)
Ecuador was main competitor of Vietnam in Chinese market. In 2015, Ecuador exported 50% of its shrimp production to China. In 2016, China is still an important market of Ecuador exporters.
With a large number of population (accounting for 1/5 of the world population), high consumption demand of seafood with diversity in demand, particularly consumer trend of high-quality products of Chinese people in recent years, this is a potential market of seafood suppliers, especially Vietnam exporters.
Demand for raw shrimp imports for processing and re-exports is increasingly high due to decline in domestic shrimp production. Import demand of shrimp for domestic consumption is also growing due to the emergence of the middle class. They prefer imported goods to domestically produced goods. The regulations on quality of products imported into China is not too strict. Thus, this is considered an attractive destination of suppliers. However, this market still exists some limitations in the payment process, instability in import volume and import price. Besides, China also strengthened technical barriers with some seafood products from Vietnam. Accordingly, processing plants must be granted the code to export to China and the exporters must be included in the list that was ratified by China.
Vietnam’s competent authorities are working with China to remove technical barriers to strengthen seafood exports including shrimp to the market.
China’s shrimp production will fall to around 1.3 million MT in 2016 due to Chinese farmers are facing with diseases, such as early mortality syndrome.
Last year, China imported 300,000 MT of shrimp to meet the demand for fresh and processed shrimp of domestic market. China is expected to continue raising shrimp imports in the coming period.
By Kim Thu