Shrimp exports to China continue to drop in December

VASEP’s statistics indicate that Vietnamese shrimp export turnover to China and Hong Kong (China) during the 11-month period dropped by 8% to US$569 million compared with the same period from last year.

The nation’s shrimp export turnover to the market continued to fall by 24% to US$52 million in November.

Industry insiders pointed out that the demand for imported Vietnamese shrimp in the Chinese and Hong Kong (China) markets has largely depended on economic growth and inventory in these countries, and cheap supply sources.

Currently, China is the main target market of several shrimp exporters such as Ecuador and India due to their supply source of cheap raw shrimp, thereby leading to Vietnamese shrimp being under pressure to compete on price.

As a result of this, although China's demand for shrimp imports is still increasing strongly, Vietnamese shrimp exports to this market in December are predicted to decrease against the same period from last year.

However, China remains a potential market for Vietnamese shrimp products as their shrimp consumption is even more than the US and Europe.

This year, the northern neighbour is estimated to import one million tonnes of shrimp, mainly for processing and domestic consumption.