Tra fish exports at the lowest in 5 months

Despite an increase of 47% over the same period in 2021, tra fish (pangasius) exports have not stopped the decline in July 2022 when only reached US$ 186 million, the lowest level in the past 5 months.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), pangasius exports in July 2022 was at the second lowest in 2022, just higher than that of February 2022, when it was US$ 171 million.

After peaking at US$ 310 million in April 2022, the time of international seafood fairs in the US and Europe, pangasius exports began to cool down in the following months. Specifically, the export value of pangasius from May to July was US$ 248, 213 and 186 million, respectively.

The downtrend is evident in both China and the US markets. Pangasius exports to China peaked at US$ 113 million in April, but fell to US$ 44 million in July. Similarly, pangasius exports to the US fell from US$ 81 million in April to US$ 32 million in July.

China is still the main market, but Vietnamese pangasius currently holds a modest market share compared to the country's frozen fish demand. According to the VASEP, Vietnam's frozen pangasius only accounts for about 14 - 15% of China's total frozen fish imports.

The fact that China loosens the SARS-CoV-2 virus inspection mechanism, does not suspend imports if detects virus-infected shipments, helps relieve psychological pressure as well as costs and time for Vietnamese businesses.

However, China tends to introduce more and more standards in checking microbiological criteria, food hygiene and safety. The VASEP recommends that seafood enterprises pay attention to quality assurance and regulations and standards of the Chinese market.

Tra fish is a common cultured species in the Mekong Delta. The farming production increased rapidly from 90,000 tons in 2000 to 300,000 tons in 2004 and reached 1.5 million tons in 2021. After many years of sharp price drop, the tra fish industry has recovered strongly in the last 2 years. The price of pangasius seed in Dong Thap, An Giang, Can Tho is at VND 29,000 - 30,000 per kg, type 30 - 35 fishes per kg.

In addition to the US and China, which tend to reduce pangasius imports, many other markets still maintain growth. Typically, Mexico grew 87% in July, Brazil and Thailand increased by double digits, 40% and 34% respectively in the same month.

Some new markets had a breakthrough in July, such as Canada, which increased by 4 times, Hong Kong by 114%, Australia by 143%, Singapore by more than 2 times, the Philippines by 3.5 times...

In the 7 past months of the year, pangasius exports to China still doubled compared to the same period in 2021, reached US$ 451 million, accounting for 28% of Vietnam's total pangasius export value. Pangasius exports to the US were still 92% higher than the same period in 2021, accounting for 24% of the total value.

At the recent pangasius conference held in Dong Thap, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said that this year, pangasius export output would exceed the peak of US$ 2.26 billion, the export rate would increase by more than 80%. Pangasius export would be an export sector of over one billion US$ to compensate for other export sectors.

In the Mekong Delta, Dong Thap is currently the locality with the largest production of pangasius seeds and commercial pangasius. According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dong Thap's pangasius production now accounts for more than 33% of the area and nearly 35% of the region's output, providing about 60% of pangasius seeds production for the Mekong Delta.

Every year, Dong Thap province provides about 20 billion pangasius fry and about 1.2 - 1.3 billion pangasius seeds. However, like many other localities, Dong Thap's pangasius industry is also facing many challenges in the development process, including the decline in seed quality.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the rising cost of material fish causes the average export price of frozen tra fish fillets to rise from USD 3.2/kg to USD 3.4/kg. In which, the average export price to the U.S. market was the greatest and rose significantly to over USD 4.5 per kilogram, it was the highest. In the first quarter of 2022, tra fish exports surged by about 90 percent over the same time the previous year, contributing to approximately 27 percent of the entire value of seafood exports from the nation.

In the second quarter of 2022, it is anticipated that tra fish exports to major markets will continue to maintain a high growth rate due to increased and stable consumption demand as a result of competitive tra fish prices, and may fill the gap in some segments where whitefish products from Russia are in short supply.