Tuna Has Optimistic Growth & Market Expansion

In the past 10 months, Vietnamese tuna has penetrated into 87 markets, nearly double over those of the early 2011 thanks to high demand from international markets at the end of the year.

Moreover, some countries in the world are proposing the reduction in quotas for catching tuna to preserve fish stocks in the future.

The US is still the main consumer of Vietnamese tuna, making up 46 per cent of total exports. Vietnamese tuna exports to the US market in the past ten months were US$144.7 million.

Among the top Vietnamese tuna importers, the EU ranked the second after the US. So far, Vietnamese tuna has been shipped to 21 countries of the EU block in which Germany, Italy and Belgium are three biggest consumers.

Germany was the leading consumer of Vietnamese tuna in the block but in October 2011, Italy surpassed Germany with impressive three-digit growth rate (US$2.9 million), up 258 per cent over that of the corresponding period of 2010. Vietnamese tuna is more and more satisfying the strict requirements of this market block.

In the last months of 2011, tuna exports to Japan are on a upward trend. The Japanese economy has been recovering positively since the tsunami in March. So far, the growth rate in tuna exports to Japan reached a high of 82.3 per cent (equal to US$36.6 million).

Apart from three above destinations, Switzerland is also a potential market for Vietnamese tuna products. In recent time, tuna exports to the market saw a high growth rate after Japan. In the past ten months, Switzerland imported over US$3 million of Vietnamese tuna, a year-on-year increase of 52.4 per cent.

In contrast, Vietnamese tuna exports to Taiwan weakened since the early 2011. In 2010, the growth rate in tuna export value to Taiwan reached high level of 127 per cent compared to that of 2009. In 2011, Vietnamese tuna exports to the market sank continuously, even reduction of 60 per cent in one month.