Under difficult conditions, shutchi catfish exports to the Mexican market grew impressively with three-digit numbers, becoming the leading export market of Vietnamese seafood enterprises in Latin America.

Processing shutchi catfish for export at Hung Hau Company. Photo: Enterprise

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), by the first half of August 2021, the total value of shutchi catfish exports to the Mexican market hit US$43.76 million, up nearly 70% compared to the same period last year. With this result, Mexico has now surpassed Brazil to become the leading shutchi catfish export market of Vietnamese seafood enterprises in Latin America.

Trade barriers from China in the first half of the year and the decline in shutchi catfish imports from the EU over the years have led Vietnamese shutchi catfish firms to redirect to potential markets in ASEAN, the Middle East, or Latin America. The number of enterprises pushing shutchi catfish exports to Brazil and Mexico increased significantly from the previous year.

In the second quarter of 2021, the value of shutchi catfish exports to Mexico grew impressively by triple digits, from 166 to 232% from the same period in 2020.

Mexico is the market with the second-highest per capita income in Latin America (after Brazil). This is a market in the CPTPP bloc and according to the CPTPP, the import tax rate for seafood into the Mexican market will be 0% from the third year. shutchi catfish is the seafood product imported by Mexico with the largest volume and value, followed by tuna products. This will be a great advantage for Vietnamese firms.

The average export price of frozen shutchi catfish fillets to the Mexican market ranges from US$1.75 to US$1.82/kg. Many shutchi catfish enterprises moved from some other markets to Mexico, so by the end of July, there were more than 40 Vietnamese seafood enterprises exporting shutchi catfish to Mexico. The largest of which are businesses, such as IDI CORP, NAVICO, and DATHACO.

shutchi catfish processing enterprises in Dong Thap, An Giang, Ben Tre, Can Tho and Vinh Long are promoting shutchi catfish exports to the Mexican market.

Currently, Vietnam exports mainly two main pangasius products to Mexico, which are frozen pangasius fillets and frozen cut fish.

According to Ta Ha, VASEP's shutchi catfish market expert, seeing the potential to export shutchi catfish to the Mexican market and some other markets, however, the most necessary thing for Vietnamese shutchi catfish exporters during this time is soon to return to production stability after the social distancing.

From the end of July, up to 50% of shutchi catfish processing factories in the Mekong Delta had to close due to not being able to do "three on-spot" or having a case of Covid-19 infection locally. In the first half of August, the value of shutchi catfish exports to Mexico was at a positive triple-digit growth rate, down 12.6% from the same period last year.

Ta Ha said that it is hoped that after social distancing efforts to control the pandemic in many localities, shutchi catfish processing enterprises will soon stabilise again to maintain orders and boost exports.