As seafood products with the deepest export turnover, pangasius products are expected to increase in ASEAN markets.

Processing Pangasius to export finished products 

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet ended, which is also one of the major causes affecting pangasius import and export activities in many big markets around the world.

As of the first half of June 2020, Vietnam's pangasius export value decreased by 29.8% over the same period last year, reaching US$612.3 million.

After the positive growth in the previous 2-3 months, until May 2020, the export value of pangasius to China - Hong Kong and the US decreased again. This month, export value to China - Hong Kong decreased by 11.3%; US decreased by 51.2%. Exports to ASEAN and the EU also dropped sharply, respectively 57.6% and 36.2% over the same period in 2019.

As of mid-June this year, pangasius export value to most major markets in the top 10 major markets decreased compared to the same period last year, except for Singapore and the UK. These are two rare export markets among the top 10 large markets that still maintain positive growth after the Covid-19 pandemic.

With China - Hong Kong market, as of the first half of June 2020, the total export value of pangasius to this market reached US$187.9 million, decreasing 15.5% over the same period last year.

In May and the first half of June 2020, Pangasius export value to China - Hong Kong suddenly dropped compared to the same period last year because some Chinese ports stopped importing seafood due to concerns about the risk of Covid-19 infection.

As the second largest export market of Vietnam’s pangasius export enterprises, the US market accounted for 15.6% of total pangasius exports, reaching US$95.5 million (as of the first half of June 2020), decreasing 24.4% over the same period in 2019.

The situation of Covid-19 greatly affected commercial and business activities in this market. So far, there have been no positive signs of recovery in this market.

Although Vietnam's pangasius export value to ASEAN market in the first six months of this year still decreased by 36.6% compared to the same period last year, the negative growth rate showed signs of slowing down.

As of the first half of June 2020, the total value of pangasius exports to the EU reached US$64.6 million.

The highlight of exporting pangasius in the first half of this year is Singapore and UK. It can be said that these are two special markets in this Covid-19 season, while most of the export value to large export markets are affected to difficult growth, the export value to these two markets is brighter.

As of the first half of June 2020, pangasius export value to Singapore – the second largest export market of Vietnam’s pangasius in ASEAN – reached US$18.5 million, increasing 5.7% over the same period last year. Pangasius export value to the UK market also reached US$28.6 million, up 7.1% over the same period last year.

It can be said that the overall picture of Vietnam pangasius export in the first two quarters of 2020 is not really bright due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, export enterprises hope that, from the thirdquarter of 2020, trade activities will gradually stabilize in one market, of which the two largest export markets are China - Hong Kong and the US.

It is estimated that in the first six months of 2020, the country's seafood export is estimated at over US$3.5 billion, decreasing 10% over the same period last year. In particular, the deepest reduction was pangasius, up to 31%, tuna and octopus decreased by 20%, other types of sea fish decreased slightly by 2%.Only shrimp kept a modest increase of nearly 3%.

The EVFTA, effective from August 1, 2020, may be a "push" for Vietnam's seafood exports in the last months of the year, especially for those items that are entitled to 0% tax right after the agreement comes into effect, such as tiger shrimp, frozen white shrimp, processed octopus squid, bivalve mollusks and products with duty-free quotassuch as canned tuna and surimi.