Workers process tra fish for export. (Photo: SGGP)
Tra fish exports to ASEAN countries were estimated at over US$152 million in the first nine months of 2022, accounting for nearly 8 percent of the total, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Thanks to strong and continuous growth in recent years, shipments to ASEAN currently approximate those to the EU.
The Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore are the biggest ASEAN importers of Vietnamese tra fish at present.
Exports to the Philippines increased five-fold in September, contributing to a jump of 92 percent to exceed US$25 million in nine months – equivalent to 1.3 percent of total tra fish exports.
Thailand makes up 3.6 percent of Vietnam’s total tra fish exports. By the end of the third quarter, the revenue topped US$70 million, surging 81 percent year on year. It shot up 165 percent in September alone.
Meanwhile, Singapore imported over US$28 million worth of tra fish from Vietnam between January and September, up 56 percent from a year earlier. The shipments rose by over three times in September.
To Malaysia, the nine-month turnover exceeded US$26 million, up 114 percent. It also rocketed 138 percent in September.
Other ASEAN members like Cambodia, Indonesia, and Laos are also increasing imports of Vietnamese tra fish, with exports to those destinations growing by three- to 23-fold from the same period last year.
Soaring transportation costs so far this year is a disadvantage for the tra fish sector since this commodity doesn’t have as high prices as other fishery products. Therefore, markets in close proximity like ASEAN countries are a better pathway for Vietnamese exports.
