The nine leading markets for Vietnamese bivalve molluscs were the EU, Japan, the US, South Korea, ASEAN, Australia, Taiwan, China – Hong Kong and Mexico, representing 98.6 per cent of total exports.
The EU was the largest importer of Viet Nam with a value of $13.2 million in Q1 2014, contributing 67 per cent to Viet Nam’s bivalve mollusc sales, down 20.3 per cent year on year. Spain, Portugal and Italy were the three biggest importers in this region, but imports from Viet Nam decreased by 2.5 per cent, 11.9 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively, reports VASEP.
Viet Nam ranked fifth among suppliers of bivalve mollusc to Spain, after Chile, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Portugal. Spain is a big consumer of bivalve mollusc in EU with growth of two to 17 per cent in annual consumption. However, in early 2014, imports by the market dropped 15 – 43 per cent year on year in value.
Through February 2014, Vietnamese exporters boosted exports to Portugal. This is considered as the most potential market in Europe so far. Viet Nam is also the biggest supplier of this kind of products to Portugal with a proportion of 34 – 53 per cent in this country’s import value, even higher than that of Spain and New Zealand.
South Korea was the fourth importer, after the EU, Japan and the US. The rise in exports in three first consecutive months (+24.8 per cent in January; +8.5 per cent in February; +85 per cent in March) showed that Korean market is a very high potential for Vietnamese exporters. If this rise is stable, South Korea will pass Australia in the ranking of Viet Nam’s bivalve mollusc importers.
Currently, Chinese products made up of 75 – 80 per cent in Korean total imports of bivalve mollusc. Viet Nam ranked sixth in the top 10 suppliers but its market share was only 1.5 per cent.
In Q1 2014, Vietnamese bivalve molluscs sold to 38 markets, compared to 36 markets reported in 2013.
