China – Hong Kong

In the first 6 months of 2022, the total value of pangasius exports to China – Hong Kong market reached 427.6 million USD, up 107% over the same period last year. Previously, China’s Zero Covid policy made it difficult for imported seafood products during the first four months, including the main supplying countries to this country such as Ecuador, India, Vietnam, and Russia, Norway, Indonesia and the Philippines.

However, recently, China decided to remove the policy of suspending the import of frozen food contaminated with Sars-COV-2 virus after nearly 2 years of implementation. It is forecasted that this will help Vietnam’s frozen pangasius exports to this market grow further in the last quarters of the year.

The US

By the end of June 2022, the total value of pangasius exports to the US reached 356.4 million USD, up 111% over the same period last year, accounting for 25% of the total export value. However, in the past 2 months, the growth of pangasius exports to this market has begun to slow down. According to importers, the situation of seafood consumption in general, including pangasius in the US, has shown signs of slowing down. Inflation in the US is at a four-decade high. Essentials are getting more and more expensive. In June 2022, food prices increased by 10.4% year-on-year, which is the largest annual average increase since 1981. According to new data from IRI and 210 Analytics, the price of pangasius in the US is also increasing by about 22%. At chain stores and convenience stores, sales of frozen seafood were negatively affected by rising inflation, but not as seriously as fresh sales. The US seafood warehouse is still full. Therefore, it is possible that in the next quarter, pangasius exports to the US will grow lower than in previous quarters.

CPTPP

The third largest pangasius export market is the CPTPP countries. In the first 6 months of this year, the total export value of pangasius to this market bloc reached 180 million USD, up 66.3% over the same period last year, in which the Mexican market is worth-noticing. This is the largest import market in the bloc with a value of USD 62.4 million, up 68.5%. With this result, the export value of pangasius to Mexico has surpassed Thailand and Brazil (which are considered to be two more potential markets). Global price fluctuations due to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict have been affecting the Mexican economy. The country’s economy remains sluggish and has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. This creates an opportunity for Vietnamese pangasius thanks to increasing demand for importing seafood products with reasonable prices and healthy nutrition of the Mexicans.