Steep declines in tra fish (pangasius) exports to the European Union and the United States have been offset by strong growth in shipments to China (including Hong Kong) and Brazil, but industry insiders warn the sector may face a crisis if the situation remains unchanged.

Experts voiced their concerns at a seminar in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on November 29 on solutions to boost exports of tra fish to the EU.

Tran Van Cong, deputy head of the Agro Processing and Market Development Authority, said the EU and the U.S. are Vietnam’s largest tra buyers, accounting for 45% of the country’s annual revenue from tra export. However, Vietnam has seen steady declines in tra shipments to the two markets.

“Outbound sales of tra fish to the EU made up 24% of the total in 2012, but the proportion tumbled to 15% in 2016, and fell further to 11.8% in the first three quarters of 2017,” said Cong.

Vo Hung Dung, general secretary of the Vietnam Pangasius Association, said tra fish shipments to the EU and the U.S. had brought revenue of over US$170 million and US$290 million respectively in the year to end-October, down 21.6% and 9.3% compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, exports of the fish to China rose 42.3% year-on-year to more than US$335 million in the period, while the figure to Brazil was roughly US$85 million, up 68.3%.

Thanks to these strong growth rates, export revenue of the sector as of end-October totaled about US$1.5 billion, up 5.5% year-on-year. However, experts are worried that falling sales to the EU and the U.S. would have a domino effect on other markets.

Dung explained the reason behind the stronger export to China is that their traders deem Vietnamese tra fish to be of good quality, given impressive exports to the EU and the U.S. in the past years. “Once we lose these two markets, I am afraid China may walk away as well,” he said.

Maintaining good exports to the EU and the U.S. will help absorb any export shocks, he said, adding “when we are weak in the two markets, we will certainly face problems with international trade.”

Jean-Charles Diener, director of OFCO Sourcing Vietnam, pointed out some reasons for the decline in tra exports. In particular, there have been initial mistakes in sales strategies, and data used to analyze and seek solutions is short while decreasing tra exports precipitate a crisis.

Therefore, he stressed it is necessary to improve sales strategies, and nutritional quality and food safety and hygiene of tra fish.

Vietnam has shipped tra fish to markets worldwide, and there are no new places to penetrate. Therefore, it is imperative to improve the image and win back the confidence of global consumers, instead of seeking new markets to offset sales falls, he noted.

SGT