China is among the top three export markets for Vietnamese seafood. As the epidemic has continued to decline since the beginning of the year, exports to China only accounted for 11% of Vietnam’s total seafood exports in the first three quarters of 2021. Beginning in April 2021, Vietnam’s seafood exports to the Chinese market have continuously dropped by 11-51% due to strict inspection measures on imported frozen products at ports in China. With the outbreak of covid-19 in Vietnam in mid-July, exports to China fell further in the third quarter: a 36% drop in August and a 51% drop in September.
Due to the implementation of strict coronavirus control policies, China’s ports have been congested, and exports to China have continued to decrease. Since the third quarter of 2020, China has repeatedly detected coronavirus on frozen seafood packages imported from India, Ecuador, Russia, Argentina and other countries. Therefore, China Customs announced that it would strengthen inspections and quarantine to prevent coronavirus breakouts.
Hundreds of export companies from India, Ecuador, Russia, and Indonesia have been suspended from exporting to China for 1-5 weeks due to the detection of coronavirus. In India alone, more than 70 companies suspended imports to China.
As of the end of September 2021, Vietnam’s seafood exports to China fell by 20.5% year-on-year to US$768 million. Among them, the two main products of shrimp and Basafish accounted for 39% and 36% of the total, reaching 298 million US dollars and 279 million US dollars respectively, down 23% and 20% year-on-year. The export of black tiger shrimp fell by 12%, and the export of lobster fell by 82%.
In addition, China is also an important crab import market for Vietnam, mainly importing live crabs. As of the end of September, the value of crabs exported to the Chinese market was $36 million, a year-on-year decrease of 21%.
The current situation of China’s seafood imports is still stagnant. Recently, the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) stated that it would strengthen the inspection of cold chain seafood. As of October 29, the General Administration of Customs has inspected more than 400 international cold chain food production companies, and 154 import companies have been suspended due to employee infections. The General Administration of Customs of China has collected approximately 3.2 million imported food samples, of which 499 were positive for COVID. GACC also suspended imports for 1-4 weeks after the packaging of 221 international companies was found to be positive for COVID.
Faced with the strict control of the Chinese customs, it is expected that Vietnam’s seafood exports to China will continue to decline sharply in the last three months of this year, reaching US$242 million in the fourth quarter, a 40% drop.
