Vietnamese ‘tra’ fish exports to the UK rise despite COVID-19 pandemic

In 2020, Vietnam’s tra fish export sharply declined in general but the exports to the UK grew impressively.

According to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), in the first 11 months of  2020, the export value of Vietnamese tra fish to the UK was US$60.15 million, more than 48 per cent higher than that of the same period of 2019.

With this value, if the UK had not exited from the EU, it would have replaced the Netherland to become the biggest single importer of Vietnam in the EU.

According to International Trade Centre, in the first eight months of 2020, Vietnamese tra fish made up 91per cent of total tra fish volume imported to UK and 90 per cent of tra fish import value to the country.

The importing prices to the UK in the same period were also quite good with the average price of US$2.98 – 3.98 per kilo.

Besides Vietnam, the UK also imported tra fish from other countries including Germany, Indonesia and Thailand. However, the UK tends to import frozen tra fish directly from Vietnam instead of from other brokering markets in EU like Germany or the Netherlands.

Reasonable prices and standard processing lines of Vietnamese producers were important factors that boosted direct tra fish export from Vietnam to the UK.

Notably, the exports of processed tra fish from Vietnam to the UK sharply increased, accounting for 32 per cent of Vietnam’s total tra fish export value to the UK.

Last year, nearly 40 Vietnamese enterprises joined exporting tra fish to the UK, of them, VDTG, Agigish and Vinh Hoan Corp were three ones with biggest market shares.

As Vietnam-UK Free Trade Agreement officially took effects from 11 pm on December 31, 2020, the exports of tra fish from Vietnam to the UK would have more opportunities to grow if exporting enterprises make use of incentives that the agreement offers.

According to the UK, Vietnam would continue to enjoy the UK’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) - a preferential tariff system which provides tariff reduction on various products. Vietnamese exporters could get GSP incentives if they could show C/O form A.

UK would accept the certificate of origin under the Registered Exporter system (the REX system) -a system of certification of origin of goods based on a principle of self-certification if the certificate is issued before January 1, 2021, for products that are exported to the UK within 12 months since December 31, 2020.