HANOI: Vietnamese shrimp exports to the United States faced a sharp decline in the first half of the year, which was 50.2 per cent, due to the low demand for the crustacean in the American market.
Analysts in the sector explained that the sales of this resource to the US, which generated only USD 262.7 million in revenue in the first six months, were also affected by the US dollar appreciation against other currencies, which encouraged shrimp exporters from several countries to boost their shipments to the US and caused the price depreciation of the Vietnamese shrimp of 18.3 per cent (from USD 14.50/kg to USD 11.92/kg).
Meanwhile, among the competitors of Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia increased shrimp exports to the US while sales from India and Ecuador decreased.
Data from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA) revealed that that shrimp import volumes into the US grew 8 per cent in the first half of this year, to 268,402 tonnes, but their import value declined by 14.7 per cent, from USD 3.05 billion in H1 last year to USD 2.6 billion this year.
The US agency also informed that shell-on shrimp imports including easy peel climbed 9.4 per cent in June 2015 and grew 14.3 per cent in the first 6 months of this year.
Peeled imports, mostly from India, Indonesia, Ecuador and Thailand, were up 19.5 per cent year on year and up 1.1 per cent comparing to the result of first half of 2014. Imports of cooked shrimp were down 3 per cent in H1 and those for breaded shrimp were up.
The VietNam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) predicts that although shrimp exports from Vietnam to the US will fall by 40 per cent throughout this year — to USD 638 million — an increased demand is expected thanks to lower anti-dumping taxes and falling supply from India, Thailand, and Ecuador due to shrimp diseases, rising cost of farming and lower export prices.
VASEP statistics show that Vietnam’s other two major importers — Japan and the EU — also cut imports by 18.6 per cent and 15.2 per cent, respectively.
Furthermore, Vietnamese exports to China and South Korea also fell sharply, with demand in the former market being hit by the recent crash in the stock market, which has caused belt-tightening among the middle class.
