Vietnam is the largest exporter of Pangasius to the EU, and the country’s growers have been set a target of $1.5 billion in export turnover for 2008. It is no doubt that the demand for Vietnamese Pangasius is growing with high rate. As per Vietnam’s development master plan, the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development expects an annual growth rate of 9-11 percent by 2010 for all seafood exports and Pangasius currently accounts for 33 percent of export turnover.
Figures show that Pangasius export has the EU as a major market, with 34.3 percent of the volume and 39.2 percent of the value to the end of August 2008. These values increased by 26.2 percent and 16.6 percent respectively compared with the same period in 2007. According to the report the total volume exported to the EU from January to August 2008 was 141,444 tonnes, with a total value of $363.98 million.
Beside Europe, Russia and Ukraine had a combined market share of 31.8 percent of the volume and 23.6 percent of the value to August 2008. Russia’s individual share grew by 256.6 percent in volume and 190.2 percent in value and the Ukraine’s by 253.5 percent in volume and 254.1 percent in value during this period compared with 2007.
It is true that the pangasius industry is facing key challenges in order to build its market share further in Europe which include environmental and social sustainability, food safety, traceability and third party accreditation/certification, all of which are increasingly of concern to consumers. But the recent economic recession has put a question mark over the pangasius industry’s targets, making growers and exporters wonder if their ambitious export target can be achieved.
