CAN THO – Vietnam earned US$1.5 billion from seafood export between January and February, surging by 51% year-on-year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
In the first two months of the year, tra fish exports contributed US$384 million to the total seafood export value, rocketing by 93% year-on-year, while shrimp export revenue amounted to US$550 million, up 46% against the same period last year.
The country also saw a 30%-90% surge in export of many other fishery products such as tuna and octopus in the first two months.
During the two-month period, the United States was Vietnam’s biggest seafood buyer, with a value of US$346 million, up 84% year-on-year, followed by Japan with US$209 million.
China was the third biggest importer of Vietnam’s fishery products, with a value of US$168 million, skyrocketing by 91% year-on-year.
Given a surge in seafood exports in the first two months of 2022, VASEP predicts that the country’s seafood export will continue to soar due to rising demand.
However, the ongoing military conflict between Ukraine and Russia will affect Vietnam’s outbound shipment of seafood to the two markets though they account for a small proportion of Vietnam’s seafood exports.
Some local fishery exporters said that their orders of tuna set to be shipped to the two markets had been cancelled due to concerns over payment risk stemming from the Russia-Ukraine tension.
After many Western countries imposed harsh sanctions on Russian financial institutions over Russia’s special military operation against Ukraine, Russia faced financial meltdown and payment became paralyzed.
