Vietnam Overseas

Vietnam saw a total seafood export value of 461 million US Dollars in the first two months of this year, 5.8 percent lower than the same period last year, according to the General Statistic Office (GSO). The office said that in February alone, the country had earned 250 million US Dollars from seafood exports. The decline was due to the effects of the global economic crisis, causing demand for all goods to go down, including seafood, on the world market.

The demand for seafood had been reduced in Vietnam’s traditional export markets, including the US, the European Union and Japan, the office said. Meanwhile, demand for Vietnamese seafood products had increased in new export markets, but Vietnamese exporters had faced difficulties with payments because of the economic crisis, it said.

Vietnam’s exporters have actively expanded their export activities to Asian and smaller export markets since early this year to restrict the decline of export values.

Long Le Phuong, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that to overcome the difficulties in exporting seafood, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had directed seafood producers to enhance participation in domestic and foreign trade fairs.

Also, producers should expand their businesses in the domestic market and apply standards on food hygiene and safety for producing materials to improve the quality of seafood, Phuong said.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (Vasep), seafood exporters may not reach their target of 4 billion US Dollars in exports this year, with export values now expected to decline by 15-20 percent from last year’s total of 4.27 billion US Dollars due to economic downturn, falling demand and foreign exchange rates.

Source: VNS/Igelnews

Source: 19/Dec/2008 Intellasia | Hanoi Moi

Dec 19, 2008 - 10:55:13 AM

With the growth rate of 13.25% a year, the seafood sector helped Vietnam climb up from 11th to the sixth position in the world in terms of seafood export.

According to Vietnam Association for Seafood Exporters and Processors (Vasep), by the beginning of December 2008, the country’s seafood export reached US$4 billion.

During the first ten months, the seafood export was 1,054,600 tons for US$3.828 billion, up 39.4% in output and 24.4% in value compared with the same period of 2007. EU countries are still the leading importers of Vietnam’s seafood products, accounting for 25.3% of Vietnam’s total seafood export with the import value of US$970 million, rising by 29.3% against the Jan-October period of last year.

In this period, the seafood export to Japan surged 14.4% to US$693 million. Japan is also a big frozen shrimp importer of Vietnam with the import spending of US$412 million, increasing 4.2% year-on-year. The third largest seafood exporter of Vietnam during the first ten months of 2008 was US with the import value of US$624 million, y-o-y rise of 5%, followed by Russia with US$197 million.

Vasep reported, this year’s export output of tra and basa catfish to Spain, US, Russia, Ukraine and German is likely to increase because of the increasing demand in these countries.

The processed shrimp export recorded 158,527 tons earning over US$1.3 billion in Jan-October

Vasep reported, Ca Mau province’s Minh Phu Fisheries Joint Stock Co last year was the leading shrimp exporter with the export turnover of US$144 million. This year, the company in Jan-October exported over 11,000 tons of shrimp for US$128 million.

3/12/2009

The US Department of Commerce has decided to abolish the imposition of anti-dumping tariffs on exports from two more Vietnamese catfish exporters, said the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP).

According to the final outcome of the DOC’s administrative review of anti-dumping taxes levied on Vietnamese frozen catfish fillets, the South Vietnam Fishery Ltd. Co. (South Vina) and the Binh An Fishery Joint Stock Company (Bianfishco) were cleared of dumping catfish products on the US market and would subsequently enjoy a zero-percent tax rate from now on.

Three other Vietnamese exporters, namely the Dong Thap QVD Foodstuff Ltd. Co., the An Giang Fisheries Import-Export Joint-Stock Company and the Viet An Joint Stock Company, are to enjoy a tax rate of just 0.52 percent.

The common tax rate levied on the remaining Vietnamese exporters is 63.88 percent.

All of these tax rates will take effect following the publication of the US Federal Register.

Anti-dumping taxes on frozen tra and basa catfish fillets imported from Vietnam were issued by the DOC in August 2003 and have been periodically reconsidered since then.

The Seafood Association of Mekong Delta provinces said that 40 percent of the region’s catfish breeding ponds now lie abandoned, with An Giang province alone accounting for 60 percent of this total.

The reason for this is the heavy losses suffered by fish farms in 2008. It is estimated that 25 percent of fish farmers in the region have gone bankrupt as a result.

The region’s catfish output is expected to fall by up to 40 percent this year, having a huge impact upon the nations’ catfish processing industry.

Source: VietNamNet/VNA

(04-03-2008)

HA NOI — The US Department of Commerce (DoC) has made a preliminary decision to cut anti-dumping tariffs down to zero for 29 Vietnamese shrimp exporters.

The case dates back to a period between February 2006 to January 2007 during which there were anti-dumping allegations.

The decision came after the DoC’s second administrative review on Vietnamese shrimp exporters, according to the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

The association said the exporters include Minh Phu Company, Ca Mau 4 Seafood Enterprise (CAMIMEX), Amanda Foods, Viet Nam JSC, CADOVIMEX, Cafatex, CATACO, Cofidec, Cuu Long Seapro, Seaprodex Da Nang, Tho Quang, Thuan Phuoc, Grobest, Incomfish, Kim Anh, Minh Hai Jostoco, Seaprodex Minh Hai, SEAPRIMEXCO, Ngoc Sinh, Ngoc Sinh Seafoods, Nha Trang Fisco, Nha Trang Seafoods, Phu Cuong, Phuong Nam, Sao Ta, UTXI, Viet Foods, Viet Nam Fish-One Co Ltd and Vimexco.

The reviewed average tax rate for the 29 exporters are between 0 per cent and 0.01 per cent whereas under US regulation, all tax rates under 0.05 per cent will be considered as zero tax.

The final decision on the new tax rates will be announced 120 days after the day the announcement of the preliminary decision.

In the first administrative review on Vietnamese shrimp exporters in September 2007, the DoC decided to cut tariffs from 4.57 per cent to 0.01 per cent for Viet Hai and to 1.08 per cent for Grobest.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said Viet Nam exported US$551 million in seafood value in the first two months of this year, of which $252 million was recorded in February alone. The figure is up by 30 per cent from the same period last year.

After Tet, shrimp processors in Cuu Long Delta provinces, including Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Soc Trang, have maintained 30 per cent of their capacity because of a lack of shrimp material at the moment, the ministry said. — VNS