China is the largest consumer market of Vietnamese pangasius.

Pangasius export turnover in 9 months is estimated to reach nearly 1.5 billion USD. Vietnam's pangasius export to the Brazilian market has grown steadily.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), China is the world’s largest importer of whitefish. The huge demand in this market creates millions of orders, worth billions of dollars each year. In particular, Vietnamese pangasius has been one of the most popular products there over the past 20 years.

According to statistics from the International Trade Center (ITC), from 2004 to 2023, China consumed nearly 25 billion USD of whitefish. Of which, Russia is the largest supplier of whitefish to China with nearly 15 billion USD, accounting for 60% of the proportion.

Trung Quốc là thị trường tiêu thụ lớn nhất của xuất khẩu cá tra Việt Nam

Vietnamese pangasius has also been one of the popular products in China over the past 20 years. Photo: TL

Vietnam is the second largest supplier of whitefish (mainly pangasius) to China, after Russia, with nearly 3 billion USD, and accounting for 11% of China's total whitefish imports in the past 20 years. The Chinese market has only officially imported whitefish from Vietnam since 2012. Before that, since 2004, China had hardly imported whitefish products from Vietnam, but mainly from Norway, Russia, Canada, the Netherlands, the US, South Korea, etc.

The whitefish product most favored by Chinese consumers is frozen Alaska pollock HS code 030367. Over the past 20 years, since 2004, China has imported nearly 9 billion USD of this product, accounting for 36% of the total value of whitefish imports from the world.

Source: VASEP

2019 was the year when China imported frozen Alaska pollock (HS code 030367) with the highest value, at 941 million USD, up 44% compared to 2018. In the first seven months of this year, China imported this product at 376 million USD, down 28% compared to the same period last year. Of which, April recorded the highest value, at 104 million USD, down 19% compared to April 2023.

Frozen Pangasius Fillet HS code 030462 ranked 4th in the "most popular white fish menu" in China. Starting to import from 2012, by 2023, the import value of this product in China reached 2.2 billion USD, of which 2022 reached the highest level, with 492 million USD, an increase of 134% compared to 2021.

In the first seven months of this year, China bought a total of $86 million worth of frozen pangasius fillets, down 41 percent from the same period last year. Vietnam has been the sole supplier of this product to China since the beginning of this year.

It can be said that China is the largest consumer market of Vietnamese pangasius. Reasonable price, rich nutrition of pangasius, similarity in taste and convenient transportation are some outstanding advantages that make Vietnamese pangasius one of the favorite white fish products in China. Vietnamese enterprises should research and diversify pangasius products exported to this market, besides the main product of frozen fillets.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/trung-quoc-la-thi-truong-tieu-thu-lon-nhat-cua-ca-tra-viet-nam-353008.html