HANOI: The Vietnam Association for Seafood Exporters and Producers (Vasep) has forecast that shrimp export turnover would approximate only US$3.2-3.5 billion this year, much lower than US$3.95 billion last year, despite a likely recovery due to anti-dumping tax cut from the U.S.
The association made the prediction at a seminar within the framework of the Vietfish 2015 Expo in HCMC recently. The anti-dumping tax rate the U.S. imposed on Vietnamese shrimp products have has been reduced to 0.93 percent after the 9th period of review (POR 9) from 6.37 percent of POR8.
The move has reduced difficulties and pressure on Vietnamese exporters but will not much rebound the dropping turnover since early 2015. The export turnover to the U.S. will near US$700 in the rest of this year, US$300 billion lower than the same period last year. It was only US$370 million in the first eight months this year. Last year, frozen shrimp products of Vietnam posted an impressive price and value increase in exports.
However the condition has not been advantageous this year because of common export difficulties in agricultural, forestry and fishery industry and supply increase in Vietnam and other nations like India and Indonesia after they recovered from a shrimp disease breakout last year.
Vietnamese shrimp prices have fallen by US$1.5-2 a kilogram over the same period last year. Exports brought only US$1.8 billion by the end of August, down US$800 million against the same period last year, although shrimp accounts for 43 percent of the country’s seafood export turnover.
The product’s export to main markets saw a reduction of 14-54 percent. Export price to the U.S., Vietnam’s largest shrimp export market, reduced by 20 percent to US$10 a kilogram.
Other markets like Japan and the EU posted 19 percent and 14 percent fall because of Yen and Euro depreciation, China plunged 28 percent because of the stock market slump and economic difficulties.
