Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam's tuna exports increased strongly in thefirst month of this year, especially to the US market with many orders.

According to tuna export enterprises in Khanh Hoa province, in January, theysaw an increase of 3-5 times in tuna import orders and even 10 times comparedto December 2020, especially for the US market.

Nguyen Thi Thu Thanh, director of Ben Vung Seafood Co, Ltd., said the companyreceived many orders to export tuna to the US in January. However, the localcompanies have faced shortages of raw materials for processing tuna productsdue to a strong reduction in tuna output in many countries such as India andSingapore. This has led to higher prices of raw tuna.

At present, the price has surged to 5 USD per kilo of tuna from 3.5 USD inNovember 2020. Le Buu Quoc, head of the Thinh Hung Co, Ltd’s ProcurementDepartment, said that the higher price of imported raw tuna and impacts fromthe COVID-19 pandemic had pushed the price of tuna up in the domestic market.But businesses still had to buy the material at high prices for processingexport products.

Quoc said the company had received many orders to export tuna products to theUS, mainly for supermarkets, while restaurants in the US, especially high-endestablishments, had not reopened.

Amid the pandemic, export orders to the US helped the company maintainstability in production. Meanwhile, the export price had increased by about 4percent compared to the previous month.

T&H Nha Trang Co, Ltd. is also receiving orders for tuna from many markets.Therefore, this company has also increased the purchasing price of tuna to 115,000VND per kilo to encourage fishermen to catch the fish.

Huynh Dac Tri, director of the T&H Nha Trang Co, Ltd., said the tuna exportmarkets were under normal operations, excluding the European market that wasstill tightly controlled. Of which, the consumption of fresh tuna products fromVietnam was stable.

“The US market has not reduced demand. Therefore, the domestic tuna exportersare increasing purchases of raw material to fulfil export contracts becausethey face a serious shortage,” said Tri.

Nguyen Trung Hieu, head of the Management Board of the Hon Ro fishing port andthe South Central Coast seafood market, said in January, most tuna fishingvessels achieved higher output than the previous month.

Specifically, each fishing vessel caught from 30-40 units of tuna fish onaverage, or 1.2-1.5 tonnes, with some managing 50-80 units of tuna or 2-3tonnes. Purchasing price of tuna ranges from 110,000-115,000 VND per kilo, anincrease of about 10,000-20,000 VND.

According to the Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), in2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had a great impact on the global and Vietnamesetuna industry.

VASEP said that tuna exports in 2021 could not recover due to continuingdevelopments of COVID-19.

Currently, the pandemic is not under control and moreover there is a risk of arebound, so the global tuna market is expected to not yet recover.

However, the EU market will continue to be the lever for Vietnam's exports oftuna products, such as canned tuna, fresh and frozen tuna, to the EU market in2021.

Vietnam gained a total export value of 649 million USD in 2020 from exportingtuna to 108 markets in the world. The value fell by 9.8 percent year on year./.