HANOI: Contrary to the earlier optimistic forecast, Vietnam’s pangasius exports have dropped further in the final months of 2015, causing a possible decrease of up to 10% in this year’s total export revenue against 2014, reports Vietnam Net.
Vo Hung Dung, vice chairman and general secretary of the Vietnam Pangasius Association, said exports in February fell by 28% over the same period last year but slowed to 12% and 9% year-on-year respectively in April and May.
With such improvements, Dung said the association forecast in June that turnover ofpangasius shipments for all of 2015 would be the same as last year.
But outbound sales growth in September and October were lower than targeted, so total exports this year could fall by 5%-10% over last year.
“The reason is that exports to the European Union and the US — the two main markets for Vietnamese tra [pangasius] fish — have slid recently,” Dung explained.
Figures of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) showed that domestic pangasius exporters are coping with many challenges.
In particular, pangasius shipments to the US and the EU, accounting for 38.8% of Vietnam’s total pangasius export turnover in the first 10 months, continued sliding. Exports to the US dipped 4.6% year-on-year to $260 million while shipments to the EU contracted 15% to $246 million.
Although exports to the Chinese market increased in August, September and October by 29.6%, 55% and 81.7% year-on-year respectively, VASEP said that by the end of October exports to ASEAN countries, Mexico and Brazil went down by 1.9%, 10% and 44.5% year-on-year respectively. This was why pangasius exports in the period slumped 10.4% to only US$1.3 billion.
