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US Becomes Top Importer of Viet Nam Shrimp

Crustaceans Sustainability Economics +4 more

VIET NAM - During the past five years, this is the first time the US has surpassed Japan to be the largest buyer of Vietnamese shrimp.

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Shrimp sales to the US so far have increased partly thanks to tremendous and continuous increase in shrimp price in the US market in the past nine months of 2013, reports VASEP.

According to Vietnam Customs, through September, shrimp shipment to the US obtained over US$542.7 million, up 62.6 per cent year-on-year. Shrimp sales to the market in 2012 reached US$454.6 million.

In September 2013, shrimp exports to the US hit a record growth of 138.7 per cent year-on-year. At that time, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) determined that in the seventh administrative review - POR7 (Feb 1, 2011 - Jan 31, 2012), sales by 33 Vietnamese shrimp exporters to the US market have not been made below normal value and they get zero average dumping margin.

Thereafter, late September, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) rejected DOC’s imposition of 4.52 per cent of countervailing duty on shrimp imported from Viet Nam that DOC has determined are subsidized.

Two determinations of DOC and ITC not only reduced costs for Viet Nam shrimp exporters but also reaffirmed that Viet Nam shrimp exporters have been operating under market mechanism, and have never been receiving any government subsidy. These two determinations pace the way for more Viet Nam shrimp exports to the US

For the year to September, Viet Nam shrimp exports to the US were speeded up by continuous increase in shrimp price caused by shortage of raw shrimp. The price of the species in the US market remained the upward trend from January to September of this year.

In Jan-Sep 2013, the black tiger shrimp price in the US market grew by US$3.2 per kilogram while whiteleg shrimp price marked higher growth of US$4 per kilogram.

Despite dropping to the second position after the US, Japan got two- digit growth in shrimp imports from Viet Nam. Shrimp sales to Japan through September 2013 reached US$497.1 million, up 12.8 per cent from that reported at the compatible period of 2012. The country expects to boost shrimp exports to the market in the last months of the year.

Shrimp exports to EU recovered after one-year deep dive with the export value of US$263.6 million, up 14.8 per cent. Exports to leading consumer markets in the block such as Germany, the UK and France reported sharp increase of 2.7 per cent, 34.2 per cent and 48.5 per cent, respectively.

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