Chile – The potential buyer of Vietnam tuna

Shrimp exports to the EU in the first quarter of this year still kept the growth as in 2017. Vietnam’s shrimp exports to the EU market got quite favorable because India - Vietnam’s big competitor in the EU market - has faced difficulties in exporting shrimp to the EU market. In addition, Vietnam shrimp has the advantage of gaining GSP from the EU that Thailand and China do not have. At present, the EU GSP tariff for Vietnam frozen raw shrimp (HS code 030617) is 4.2%; that for processed frozen shrimp (HS code 160521) is 7%.

In particular, the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is in the process of coming into force. As committed, after the entry into force of the Agreement, Vietnamese goods, including shrimp products, will enjoy special preferential tariffs.

The EU accounts for about 30.6% of total shrimp import value of the world. Shrimp imports into the EU range from US$6-US$8 billion per year. In the 10 years (2007-2017), shrimp imports into the EU increased from US$5.6 billion to US$6.9 billion in 2017.

According to International Trade Center (ITC) data, in 2017, shrimp imports into the EU reached over US$6.9 billion; increased by 3.4% compared to 2016. Spain and France were the two largest shrimp buyers in the EU. The import value of shrimp into Spain hit US$1.3 billion, up 7%; that into France touched US$952.9 million, up 3.9% over 2016.

On the EU market, Vietnam shrimp has to compete mainly with the same item from India and Ecuador. While India tends to reduce shrimp exports to the EU due to some difficulties, Ecuador is increasingly promoting its exports to the market.

With high demand for consumption thanks to better economic growth than forecasted, exports of some products such as processed whiteleg shrimp, fresh/frozen black tiger shrimp to the EU expected to remain the good growth in the coming time.