Seafood exports see rising profits in Q3
HA NOI — The fisheries industry's export value is expected to achieve a year-on-year increase of 17 per cent for the third quarter, hitting US$1.84 billion in total.
Therefore, the total export value could exceed $4.7 billion in the first three quarters of this year and the yearly export value target may reach $6.5 billion, according to the Viet Nam Seafood Exporters and Producers' (VASEP) report on seafood exports in the second quarter of this year.
Demand for seafood in key export markets is predicted to increase in the third and fourth quarters of this year, said Truong Dinh Hoe, VASEP general secretary.
Seafood exporting enterprises identified potential difficulties early this year in order to adjust their development strategies for the year and achieve positive business results in the last two quarters, he said.
The Government's macroeconomic policies, including credit policies, have positively affected the export activities of the enterprises, he said.
The association expected exports of tra fish and shrimp would continue to reduce by 10 per cent in August against the same period of last year but the export value would rise after September because of high demand in export markets.
Shrimp export value was estimated to see a quarter-on-quarter increase of 19 per cent but a year-on-year decline of 4 per cent to reach $690 million for the third quarter.
Meanwhile, tuna, other kinds of sea fish, cuttle-fish and octopus would continue to surge in export value for the third quarter, rising by 25-40 per cent in comparison with the same period of last year.
However, the association said, seafood exporters would still face challenges in raw materials, high input costs and trade barriers in export markets.
The lack of raw materials for export product processing would continue until September, when a support package worth VND9 trillion ($428.6 million) for the tra fish production industry would go into action, promoting production of tra fish and creating favourable conditions in credit for enterprises to buy raw material for processing.
Next month, the domestic supply of shrimp and other kinds of sea fish would increase but the fisheries industry would still import raw material for export product processing with a total import value of $60-65 million each month in the third quarter, the association said.
In the third quarter, input costs would still be as high as in the second quarter and increase 15-25 per cent against the same period of last year. Therefore, the enterprises would find it hard to increase production in the third quarter. — VNS