Raw fish and seafood imports into Vietnam were up 20.6% last year to $643 million, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Tuna was the largest item, at $187.5 million, and showed the sharpest increase at 55.6%. Shrimp (black tiger, white leg and marine) was second at $153.8 million, but increased only 6.3%. Imports of pangasius, mollusks and crustaceans declined.
A lot of the increased imports were due to lack of domestic supply of raw material, There are about 200 seafood companies that imported raw material for processing and re-exporting. Key suppliers to Vietnam included Taiwan (skipjack tuna), India and Indonesia (black tiger shrimp), Thailand (whiteleg shrimp), and Japan and South Korea (primary suppliers of tuna and cephalopods).
