2016: American Demand For Vietnam Shrimp Imports Will Increase

Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) stated that shrimp exports to USA in 2016 are expected to increase thanks to the positive signal from the 9th administrative review results (POR9) about anti-dumping tax on frozen shrimp imported from Vietnam and TPP negotiations end.

American demand for Vietnam shrimp imports will increase.

As mentioned by VASEP, on 07.09.2015, U.S Department of Commerce (DOC) announced the final results of 9th administrative review (POR9) on anti-dumping duty of frozen shrimp imported from Vietnam in the period from 1.2.2013 to 01.31.2014.

According to statistics of Vietnam Customs, from July to December of 2015, Vietnam shrimp exports to the US have increased compared to the previous months due to rising US demand for imported shrimp to serve year-end festivals. In particular, export figure in October reached the highest level throughout the year to over 85 million USD, decrease by 4.3% compared to the same period in 2014.

US is still the largest imported market of Vietnam shrimp, but Vietnam's shrimp imports structure in 2015, the proportion of exports to this market has declined compared to 2014. VASEP said this decline is owing to lower export price, weak demand and strong competition with rival supply.

As of November 2015, USA imported 531.444 tons of shrimp from other countries, worth nearly $ 5 billion, 2% higher in volume but 19% lower in value. As of November 2015, the average price of imported shrimp in the US fell from $11.82 down to $9.39/kg, 20.6% lower than 2014.

In addition, high production cost is the main reason that leads to 20% higher in Vietnam export price than the average level in the US market.

The national currency of competitor such as India, Indonesia, Ecuador, China strongly is down 15- 30%, while VND has only slight reduction. This also makes Vietnam shrimp less competitive in US market.

However, US market shrimp demand in 2016 is expected to go up due to by dollar appreciation, lower shrimp price (compared to 2 years ago) and improving economic growth.

The advertising program of shrimp retail become more active because shrimp wholesale price dropped. This trend will lead to an increase demand for shrimp. Accordingly, Vietnam's shrimp export enterprises can take advantage of this trend to stimulate exporting shrimp to US market.

Dung Nguyen

Source: motthegioi.vn & tepbac.com