HANOI: Vietnam imports around 5,000 tonnes of tuna for local consumption demand every year, according to an official of the Việt Nam Tuna Association. Vũ Đình Đáp, chairman of the association, said the nation has 3,600 ships to catch ocean tuna mainly in Bình Định, Phú Yên and Khánh Hòa central provinces, with a total average output 17,000 tonnes of tuna per year.
However, recently, local tuna processors have been importing 4,000 tonnes to 5,000 tonnes of tuna every year to meet their demand on export processing due to the instability in the supply of tuna caught on the ocean, Đáp said. The Mãi Tín Company, a South Korean firm, in Khánh Hòa Province, was one enterprise which only imported tuna for export processing of sushi products to Japan every year, reported zing.vn.
Now, Việt Nam’s frozen tuna fillet products are exported to 100 countries and territories, including to the European Union (EU), the United States (US), Japan and China. The Việt Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) reported last year, local tuna exporting processors still imported material for export processing due to the difficulty in supply of material. Việt Nam reached a total import value of tuna at US$214.9 million, an increase of 16.8 per cent year-on-year from 36 countries and territories, including South Korea, mainland China, Hong Kong and the EU, said the General Department of Customs.
In 2015, the tuna import value surged by 66 per cent from South Korea to $45.7 million, and by 313 per cent from the EU to $10.2 million compared with 2014.
The tuna imports from the EU were expected to increase further in the future due to the impact of the Việt Nam–EU free trade agreement, according to VASEP. Tuna exploitation output in the first months of this year was predicted to be low so tuna imports would continue, said VASEP.
