Vietnamese pangasius successfully conquered the Japanese market

Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said that in the first 3 months of 2019, Vietnam’s export of Pangasius to Japan market reached 8.58 million USD, up 60.37 % compared to the same period in 2018. This export value is also higher than the export value to the highly valued and potential market: UAE, Egypt, Germany or Belgium … With this turnover, Japan has officially entered Top 10 largest pangasius export markets of Vietnam.

The reason for Vietnamese pangasius to gain a foothold in the Japanese market is due to the positive impact from two free trade agreements (FTA) Vietnam – Japan and ASEAN – Japan. By implementing these two agreements, a number of Vietnamese seafood exports to Japan have been removed from tariff barriers.

With CPTPP, many seafood products that have not yet been committed to abolishing taxes in these two FTAs ​​will also enjoy 0% tax when exporting to Japan. In particular, some seafood products will enjoy the tax rate of 0% as soon as the agreement comes into effect, including pangasius products that are immediately exempted from the current 3.5-10.5%.

From April 2019, according to the EPA customs tariffs of Japan, fresh, chilled pangasius fish products (including pangasius) – HS code 030432 imported into this market from Thailand, Mexico, Chile and the Philippines are exempted from import duties, from ASEAN applied a 3.5% tax rate, from tax-exempt CP TPP. Therefore, the main export frozen pangasius product of Vietnam (code HS 030462) is completely exempt from tax when imported into the Japanese market.

VASEP said that with the advantages of 3 FTAs ​​with Japan, Vietnam Pangasius export enterprises have more opportunities to further increase pangasius activities to Japan market.

In 2011, the value of pangasius export to Japan market was only 2.56 million USD, accounting for 0.14% of total export value of pangasius. But by 2017 and 2018, the value of Vietnam pangasius export to Japan market has increased 9 times and 12 times respectively compared to 2011. This shows that Vietnamese pangasius enterprises are still hard to conquer the market. The school is fastidious and recognizes a lot of potential in this country.