Agriculture & Food

On March 15th, it was reported that the inflation and economic recession in the European and American markets led to a sharp decline in the export of most of Vietnam's tuna products in January of this year. However, except for the processed tuna with the code HS16, customs data showed that the export of products mainly consisting of frozen and steamed tuna fillet increased by 25%.

In 2022, factors such as transportation, vegetable oil, and steel prices drove up the price of canned tuna, leading to a decrease in market demand for canned tuna. Importing countries tended to increase the purchase of frozen tuna fillet to reduce costs, which affected the export structure of Vietnamese tuna.

According to customs data, from the end of 2022 to the present, due to low catches, the price of fresh/frozen whole tuna in the global market has remained high, resulting in a slowdown in overall demand in the import market in the first month of 2023.

However, preferential tariff quotas for frozen steamed tuna fillet products under free trade agreements such as the Vietnam EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Vietnam EU Comprehensive and Progressive Partnership Agreement (CPTPP) have increased export orders.

According to Vietnamese customs data, from August 2022 until now, Vietnam's exports of processed tuna products other than HS16 codes have tended to continue to grow.

According to customs data, Vietnamese exports of processed tuna to Israel have increased at a "high speed" of 2283%. With this growth rate, Israel rose from 10th place in the Vietnamese processing tuna import market in January 2022 to 2nd place in January 2023.

Like Israel, Vietnam's exports of processed tuna to major markets such as Peru, Canada, Thailand, South Korea, Italy, Mexico, and Chile have also increased.

Customs data show that at present, the price of the entire tuna on the global market has not shown any signs of cooling. Preferential tariff quotas are gradually exhausted. All of these are expected to further promote the export of non HS16 processed tuna products from Vietnam, especially frozen steamed tuna fillet, in the first three months of 2023.