MEKSEA.COM – In the first 8 months of 2021, Vietnam’s seafood exports have recorded many positive signals in taking advantage of tariff preferences thanks to The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), complying with the rules of origin in exporting to the EU.

The EU has been one of the largest seafood export markets of Vietnam for many years. However, the import tariffs rate of seafood into this market is relatively high, ranging from 5-20% for raw and semi-processed seafood and 5.5-26% for processed seafood.

According to data from the Vietnam Import-Export Department, in the first 6 months of 2021, Vietnam’s seafood export turnover to the EU, which has been granted C/O form EUR.1 by agencies and organizations under the EVFTA, reached approximately 336.9 million USD, accounting for about 69.4% of the total seafood export turnover of Vietnam to the EU market (reaching over 485.3 million USD). Raw and preliminarily processed aquatic products accounted for 65.3% and processed aquatic products accounted for 34.7%.

Germany and the Netherlands are the two seafood import markets of Vietnam with the largest C/O value of form EUR.1, reaching 69.4 million USD and 67.2 million USD, equivalent to 20.6% and 20% of the total value of C/O sample EUR.1 for aquatic products.

In terms of the ratio of export turnover with preferential C/O in total export turnover, pangasius (catfish) is the most, reaching 50.3 million USD, accounting for 87% of the total export value and pangasius exports to EU2 ($57.8 million) in the first 6 months of 2021.

In the first 9 months of 2021, Meksea has exported to the EU potential market about 190 tonnes of seafood. (photo: Meksea team)

Besides, seafood products with high export turnover using C/O form EUR.1 include preliminarily processed shrimp (HS code 0306.17), processed shrimp (HS 1605.21 and 1605.29), frozen fish fillet (HS code 0304.62, 0304.87 and 0304.99), frozen squid (HS code 0307.43), processed tuna (HS 1604.14) and processed clams and oysters (HS 1605.56).

Moreover, except for canned tuna and surimi that the EU applies tariff quotas (11.5 thousand tonnes and 500 tonnes respectively), the other seafood products are committed to eliminating taxes by the EU with the longest path of 7 years. Thus, this is a good opportunity for Vietnam’s seafood industry to expand its market in the EU by taking advantage of incentives from the EVFTA Agreement.

However, to enjoy tariff preferences from the EVFTA, Vietnamese seafood must meet the provisions of the rules of origin of goods under this Agreement and be granted a Certificate of Origin (C/O) form EUR.1 under EVFTA. And this is also a big challenge for Vietnamese seafood producers and exporters.

To export seafood to the EU market, products must have pure origin from Vietnam or use purely originating materials imported from the EU. However, due to the production and business capacity and the source of raw materials for the production of Vietnam’s seafood industry in the short term, it is not possible to fully meet the criteria of pure origin of the EVFTA, Vietnamese enterprises focus on developing domestic raw materials to take advantage of tariff preferences from FTA.

According to The European Market Observatory for fisheries and aquaculture (EUMOFA), seafood import turnover from non-EU countries reached 27.21 billion euros in 2019 with an import volume of up to 6.34 million tonnes. Vietnam accounts for only 4% of the seafood import market share in the EU with the main import item being shrimp. Although the quality of Vietnamese shrimp is well appreciated in the EU market, the price is less competitive than other competitors such as Ecuador and India.

With the EU’s commitment to reduce import tariffs to 0% for seafood products (including shrimp) for Vietnam under EVFTA, Vietnam’s seafood exports, especially shrimp, will have an advantage on tariffs and competitive prices.

By Hayati (MekseaTeam)

(hayati@mekseaconnection.com)

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