Trade barriers sink fish and seafood exports

Agri-forestry and seafood exports decline EU- a tough market for Vietnam’s seafood industry Seafood growth to bounce back in mid-year

In the early months of the year, fish and seafood exports have dipped 23.5% over last year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) and market access issues urgently need to be addressed.

“Perishable products like fish and shrimp have been hard hit by the strong rise in the value of the US dollar against the euro and yen as it caused their value to drop markedly in the US and Japanese markets,” VASEP said.

Though the strong dollar hasn’t directly impacted the volume of the exports it definitely has decreased the overall value in the US, EU and Japan (the three largest markets) and reduced the bottom line.

Fish and seafood businesses have also had failure this season gaining access to a number of foreign markets and the lack thereof has caused the overall volume of shipments into these regions to tumble.

VASEP said the US has imposed preliminary anti-dumping duties on pangasius fish imports while it conducts a complete review and the industry will continue to suffer over the next 12 months if this barrier is not adequately resolved.

The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) agreed that non-tariff barriers remained a significant issue noting that China has set stricter rules for the quality of rice imports, creating yet another hurdle for businesses to jump over.