Japan has overtaken the U.S. and the EU to become the largest buyer of Vietnam’s seafood with US$468 million worth of shipments in the first five months of the year, up 29.3% year-on-year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
 
Meanwhile, seafood exports to the U.S. and the EU fell to US$461 million and US$448 million respectively, a decrease of 12.7% and 0.7% respectively.
 
VASEP explained that shrimp shipments to the U.S. plunged due to the anti-dumping duty stateside. Meanwhile, Japanese demand for shrimp increased thanks to the appreciation of the Japanese yen against Vietnam dong, making Vietnamese shrimp more competitive there and attracting more domestic shrimp processing enterprises.
 
In addition, tra fish exports to the EU fell sharply, contracting 21.5% to US$49.9 million in the first quarter of 2017, leading to a year-on-year decrease in Vietnam’s seafood export to the region.
 
In the first five months of 2016, Japan was Vietnam’s third largest seafood importer with US$362 million behind the U.S. with over US$528 million and the EU with nearly US$451 million.
 
According to VASEP, the total seafood export turnover reached US$2.76 billion in January-May, up 7.5% year-on-year, of which shrimp exports fetched nearly US$1.15 billion, up 4.1%, and tra fish more than US$665 million, up 2.4%. Other seafood products also saw exports rising, such as tuna with nearly US$216 million, up 20.3%, and mollusks nearly US$239 million, up 35.6%.