According to VASEP, after dropping 6.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 with US$237.868 million worth of Vietnamese seafood imports, exports to the US started an uptrend in April and May, mostly due to increase in shrimp and pangasius exports.
In April, shrimp exports rose 27.3 per cent, pangasius rose 31.3 per cent; in May exports of shrimp and pangasius went up 58.2 per cent and 72 per cent, respectively.
The US was the largest buyer of Vietnamese shrimp and tuna and the second largest buyer of pangasius.
However, since the beginning of 2013, exporters were confronted with duty barriers imposed by the US: Shrimp products are likely to be levied countervailing duty (CVD) by the US In DOC’s determination in the 8th administrative review of the antidumping case on fish fillets, the duty levied was much higher than that of POR 7.
During the first quarter of 2013, the US imported over 565 thousand MT of seafood from various countries for a value of US$3.73 billion, down 1 per cent in volume and 5 per cent in value from those of during the same period last year.
The US market can still increase the importation of salmon and tuna because these items are still loved by local consumers; however, imports of main seafood products (shrimp, cephalopod, marine finfish and pangasius) into the US slowed down.
