After the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) took effect, exports of many Vietnamese seafood products to the EU market increased.

Accordingly, exports of mollusks including squid, octopus, and bivalve mollusks from Vietnam to the EU in August and September showed signs of recovery. Vietnam's exports of bivalve mollusks to the EU in August and September this year reached US$6.2 million and US$5.8 million, respectively, up 9.4% and 10.4% over the same period last year.

Vietnam's squid and octopus products exported to the EU in August and September 2020 reached US$5.8 million and US$4.6 million, respectively, up 10% and 6% over the same period last year, when the previous months recorded the deepest decline.

The export of squid and octopus to the EU increased, which could be a good sign with the hope that exports to this market will increase in the coming months when some frozen and processed products are reduced to 0% tax under EVFTA.

The export of Vietnamese squid and octopus to the EU is still affected by the IUU yellow card, plus the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic causing restaurants to close and demand for squid and octopus in the foodservice sector to fall.

In the first three quarters of the year, exports of bivalve mollusks to the EU increased slightly by 3% to US$46 million, accounting for 64% of total exports.

In which, Spain, Italy and Portugal are the three main markets accounting for 76% of EU imports with animport value of US$13 million, US$12 million and US$10 million, respectively, of which only Italy has a positive growth of 10% over the same period.

This year, the EU sharply increased imports of frozen bivalve mollusks, up 59% to US$6.5 million, while down 2.7% in processed product imports (HS16) to US$39.4 million. However, processed products still account for 85% of the total export of bivalve mollusks to this market.

The price of white clam exported to Italy fluctuated at 1.17-1.9 USD/kg, while brown clam ranges from 1.24 - 2.1 USD/kg. In Spain, the price of brown clam ranges from 1.55 - 2.09 USD/kg, while white clam is priced between 0.9-2.24 USD/kg. The price of white clam exported to Spain ranges from 1.02 - 1.99 USD/kg, the brown clam is from 1.47 - 1.99 USD/kg.

Europe mainly imports products from Vietnam such as white clam, brown clam, and frozen steamed/boiled silk clam.

Source: Customs News