Despite the worldwide inflation, Vietnam’s tuna export is likely to increase in prices and volume.
Vietnam’s yellowfin tuna fishery is the major wild-capture export commodity. In 2018 alone before the pandemic struck, the country’s export value totalled almost $380 million. With a scientific name of Thunnus albacares, this fish meets the rising global demand for tuna.
Vietnam’s Tuna Export Meets Growing Global Tuna Demand
According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), foreign markets’ tuna demand will increase despite worldwide inflation. Vietnam’s tuna export and value will also increase, at the same time.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) countries is the third biggest Vietnamese tuna market. VASEP reported that in the first and second quarters of this year it imported $68 million worth of tuna. This is a 50% increase over the same period last year, following the US and Europe tuna imports.
Sashimi made from tuna (Alpha/WikimediaCommons)
According to VASEP, the US Department of Agriculture claimed that the US dealt with the highest inflation rate in the last 40 years. Prices of food essentials increased by 19% compared to the standard level in the last decade. It includes chicken, which is a famous inexpensive protein source in the US.
VASEP assumed that when prices of low-cost protein foodstuff rise, US consumers can find tuna as a good and healthy alternative. If this could be the case, tuna export will help boost the country’s economy.
This year, the tuna export revenue of Vietnam is predicted to reach $1.1 billion. It’s up by 45% from the previous year, following a 56% accrual in the first six months of 2023.
Germany, EU’s Largest Vietnam Tuna Importer
Following the constant rise in the first quarter of 2022, Germany became the fifth largest single import market in the European Union. At the same time, it replaced the Netherlands and became the largest tuna importer. In the first quarter of 2023, Vietnam’s tuna export price to the EU state grew at a rate of about 58% over the same course last year.
Image Source: Wibowo Djatmiko/WikimediaCommons
