Black tiger shrimp continue to play a leading role in export market for Vietnams shrimp industry, with export value of $1.16 billion -- of 56.1% of the total, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Vietnam exported shrimp to 92 countries last year and expected to make $2.25 billion, but that represented a 6.3% decline versus 2011. From January through November, shrimp exports reached $2.06 billion, down 4.7% over the same period of 2011. Black tiger exports arent forecast to have gained during December.
Exports to five in the top ten markets, making up 95.2% of the total value, declined sharply. Shrimp exports to the US in the first eleven months were off 15.6%, and shipments to EU 24.8%, Canada 14.1%, ASEAN 22.2%, and Switzerland 10.5%. In November exports to Japan continued to fall due to ethoxyquin testing toall shrimp. Export value for that market $63.8 million, down 5.3% from November 2011.
Shrimp exports were set back by many factors such as unstable raw shrimp supply, low demand in main consumer markets and barriers set by import markets. Many shrimp farmers in Vietnam got into troubles due to Early Mortality Syndrome disease which spread in both black tiger shrimp and vannamei farms. Shrimp production went down, leading to lack of raw shrimp for processing plants and up and down prices of raw shrimp.
Increasing input costs and EMS disease pushed up shrimp production cost in Vietnam by 15-25% over the past year. Lower competitiveness of Vietnam shrimp in price with shrimp from other suppliers is due to high raw material price. Japan is the largest importer of Vietnam shrimp with the proportion of nearly 30%, but ethoxyquin testing has cut into that. Exports to the US for January through November, at $425.4 million, reflected oversupply and a soft market. And the economic crisis in Europe reduced exports there $286.4 million.
