HCMC – Vietnam exported nearly US$130 million worth of lobsters between January and June, rising nearly thirtyfold against the same period last year, according to data of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Given the high demand for export, the price of lobster in the first half of the year inched up steadily. The price of tropical rock lobsters even rose to VND1.7 million per kilogram, while that of green lobsters was VND1.3 million per kilogram. Local shrimp farmers finally can make profit after they had been battered for three years by the Covid-19 pandemic, the news site VnExpress.net reports.
Overall, the country’s shrimp export turnover in the first half totaled US$2.3 billion, expanding 33% compared to the year-ago figure and accounting for 40% of the country’s total outbound sales of seafood.
Besides lobsters, the export turnover of processed white-leg shrimp in the six-month period increased 17% year-on-year, that of fresh or frozen shrimp improved 21%, and tiger prawns up 20%.
China, the biggest buyer of Vietnamese shrimp, imported over US$108 million worth of Vietnamese shrimp in May, soaring by almost 29 times versus the 2021 figure. In the year to May, Vietnam had shipped US$275 million worth of shrimp to the northern neighboring market, skyrocketing 101% year-on-year.
The spike in Vietnam’s outbound shrimp sales was attributed to a rising demand for aquatic products in China and other countries. In China, its zero-Covid policy has reportedly resulted in its undersupply of aquatic products for domestic consumption and processing for export.
