HMC City (VNA) – Vietnam earned 790 million USD fromexporting aquatic products in May, lifting the total figure in the first fivemonths of this year to nearly 3.3 billion USD, a year-on-year rise of 14 percent.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exportersand Producers (VASEP), after a 23percent increase in April, shrimp exports continued to maintain a growth rate of 25percent in May with turnover reaching 375 million USD.

By the end of May, Vietnam's shrimp exports had raked in1.34 billion USD, up 14 percent over the same period last year.

Tra fish (pangasius) exports also witnessed a higher-than-expected recovery with growth of 26 percent, valued at 134 million USD.Pangasius export turnover in the first five months of the year reached 623 millionUSD, an increase of 12 percent year-on-year.

Seafood exports still achieved a strong growth rate of 14.5percent over the same period last year, reaching a turnover of 1.3 billion USDin the first five months of this year.

Among them, tuna exports reached 292 million USD, up 21percent over last year’s figure.

Especially, in April and May, tuna exports achieved animpressive increase, 1.5 times higher than the same period last year. This is apositive signal for exports in the coming months.

Export of squid and octopus also recovered positively, up 11percent to 212 million USD.

According to the VASEP, the current supply of aquaticmaterials for processing is stable, especially for shrimp and pangasiusproducts while seafood materials is more difficult due to the impact of theCOVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the main factor determining the recovery ofVietnam's seafood exports in the current period is the market.

Accordingly, the US, EU and member countries of theComprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)are the markets that play a dominant role in the growth of Vietnam's seafoodexports.

The strong rises in March and April have helped lift thetotal export value of the products to the US in the first four months ofthis year to 483 million USD, up 28 percent compared with the same period lastyear, VACEP said.

In addition to shrimp, tuna is expected to have an opportunityto export rapidly to the US market.

The European market is also expected an ideal destination ofVietnamese seafood exporters. Although the economic recovery of this marketsector is slower than that of the US, consumption demand is recovering when theCOVID-19 pandemic is gradually controlled.

Vietnam's aquatic product export turnover to the EU in May reachednearly 95 million USD, up 30 percent compared to the same period last year.

Accumulated exports to the EU reached over 380 million USD inthe first five months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 15 percent.

Shrimp still the main products with nearly 199 million USD,up 22 percent over the same period last year. While the export of shrimp andseafood products to the EU has a positive trend, pangasius exports to the EUhave not shown any signs of recovery, continuing to decline by over 25 percentagainst last year./.