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According to preliminary statistics from the Vietnam Association of Seafood Processors and Exporters (VASEP), Vietnam’s tra fish exports in March reached $156 million, a decrease of 14% compared to the same period last year. In the first quarter, the country earned $411 million from tra fish exports, down 3% compared to the same period in 2023.
In terms of market, China and Hong Kong continued to be the largest markets for Vietnamese tra fish with $112 million in the first quarter, a decrease of 22% in the first quarter. In March alone, exports to this market reached over $36 million, a sharp increase of 56% compared to the previous month. The overall decline in the first quarter was due to the fact that both Vietnam and China had the Lunar New Year holiday in February.
The US was the second largest market for Vietnamese tra fish with $65 million in the first quarter, up 12% year-on-year. Notably, in March alone, the revenue reached $31 million, nearly double from the previous month and the month with the highest export value since June 2023.
According to VASEP, the export value of tra fish to the US in the first quarter of this year is one of the positive signs for 2024 with new orders, as the inventory in this country is decreasing.
In March 2024, Vietnam exported nearly $22 million of tra fish to the CPTPP market, down 8% compared to March 2023. Also in March, tra fish exports to a number of markets recorded positive growth including Brunei, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Chile, etc. Notably, Mexico was the country that consumed the most tra fish in March 2024 in the bloc, with an import value from Vietnam of nearly $5 million. Following that was Japan with over $4 million, up 26% year-on-year and 129% month-on-month. In the first quarter, CPTPP consumed over $59 million of Vietnamese tra fish, up 8% year-on-year.
Tra fish is known as Vietnam’s offshore treasure because it brings in a billion-dollar revenue each year. This is a special white-meat fish raised in Vietnam, increasingly favored by many countries because of its convenience, neutral structure and flavor, ease of processing, and price suitable for all consumer segments. To date, Vietnamese tra fish has conquered over 140 markets worldwide, including traditional markets that are strict on food safety and technical regulations such as the US, the EU, and even markets that do not favor farmed fish such as Japan.
In 2023, the area for tra fish farming reached 5,700 ha, equal to 98% compared to 2022; output reached 1.71 million tons, up 0.6% compared to 2022 (1.7 million tons), showing that the productivity of tra fish farming is increasingly improving.
The popularity of tra fish and the efforts of the Vietnamese business community to bring tra fish across the five continents have helped the industry bring in a large amount of foreign currency each year. With an export value of $1.5 – 2.4 billion/year, tra fish alone accounts for 16-26% of the total seafood export value of Vietnam.
The main import markets and market groups for Vietnamese tra fish include: China and Hong Kong, the US, CPTPP, the EU, ASEAN, the Middle East, Mexico, Brazil, the UK and Russia. The number of Vietnamese tra fish exporting enterprises has increased continuously in recent years. In 2020, there were 320 tra fish enterprises, in 2021 it increased to 380, in 2022 it was 435, and in 2023 the number of enterprises reached 434.
