Vietnamese tra fish dominates Europe’s tra fish market

According to Mrs. Le Hang, Vice President of VASEP.PRO, there are 3 countries that supply tra fish to the EU: Vietnam, Bangladesh and China.

Bangladesh only exports a small amount of tra fish to the EU, but the export volume is gradually increasing. Due to supply chain issues, Bangladeshi exporters are often unable to sell to demanding, high-end markets such as the retail sector, where certification of traceability, quality and reliability is often required. Instead, Bangladeshi tra fish is often located in the low end of the foodservice market.

One of Bangladesh’s huge advantages is that this country benefits from GSP + status, which allows exporters to enjoy import tax exemption. Therefore, Bangladeshi tra fish is quite competitive on the European market in terms of price.

China exports tra fish to the EU in small volumes, not exceeding 50-100 tons per year.

Vietnam is dominating the importation of tra fish into the EU market since most tra fish products exported to the European Union come from Vietnam. The volume of tra fish imported into the EU by Bangladesh and China is quite small, so at present, there is no significant competitor to Vietnam in the EU market.

Due to accounting for the majority of Europe's tra fish imports, Vietnamese suppliers and European importers have built a long-lasting relationship with each other. This is a highly competitive advantage for Vietnam. Vietnamese labor has reasonable prices and factories are set up to process raw tra fish into European consumers’ favorite products. The majority of tra and basa fish products are exported to Europe in the form of frozen fillets.

The European Union and Vietnam signed a Free Trade Agreement in June 2019. This Agreement took effect in August 2020. Under this agreement, about 99% of import tax will be excluded. Vietnam will become more competitive as tra fish products are exported to the European Union with a 0% tax rate.

As claimed by Mrs. Le Hang,  tra fish is imported to the European market as frozen fillets. In particular, specialized importers will import tra fish products using container ships (for frozen products) to Europe. They will sell tra fishes directly to relevant market segments or raise tra fish products’ value before bringing the product to market. The final market segments of Europe that are most relevant for tra fish are retail services and food. Tra fish is brought there through importers and wholesalers.

The neutral flavor of tra fish products is ideal to combine in different dishes. In the final market, tra fishes are sold under various forms of products. Most of the products are frozen fillets, but one important segment is defrosting and value-added products.

Tra fish is being sold in supermarkets, wholesale and food services throughout Europe, in which the key market is focused on supermarkets in Northern Europe, where buyers love the convenience, composition and neutral taste of tra fish products. Northern Europe supermarkets are oriented towards sustainable development and prefer ASC-certified tra fishes.