In the past two months, China has aggressively bought lobster from Vietnam. Thanks to that, the export of this product increased 19 times compared to the same period last year.
Information from the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, as of the end of February this year, our country’s lobster exports were estimated to reach nearly 30 million USD, up 1,775% compared to 1.6 million USD in the same period. Last year, it was nearly 19 times higher. Of which, blue lobster exports reached 27.6 million USD, the rest was cotton lobster.
China is still the largest export market for Vietnamese lobster products. In two months, this country of billions of people spent nearly 29 million USD buying Vietnamese lobsters.
Last October, due to changes in regulations related to the country’s Wildlife Protection Law, China stopped importing spiny lobsters from Vietnam.
China sharply increased imports of lobster from Vietnam. Photo: Xuan Ngoc
Accordingly, to export spiny lobsters to China, businesses must prove that the shrimp seeds are not caught directly from the sea, demonstrate a clear farming process, and do not use breeds exploited from the wild, meaning The breed must be F2 generation; Importers must have a license…
In mid-January this year, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam led a delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to work with the General Department of Customs of China and the People’s Government of Guangdong province (China) on cooperation. trade and agricultural development.
Accordingly, the two sides agreed to coordinate to handle problems in import and export of spiny lobsters under a special mechanism and will include it in the protocol between the two countries.
While waiting for the protocol to be signed, China will consider and create a special mechanism for establishments to register to export lobster to this country.
In our country, many localities can strongly raise lobsters, with an estimated output of about 4,000 tons/year. Spiny lobster alone has high economic value, generating revenue of about 2,000 billion VND. However, for many years, exports to the Chinese market account for 98-99%.
However, in the last months of 2023, because China stopped buying, the price of this high-end seafood dropped sharply, farmers suffered losses, and had to call for support for domestic consumption.
While waiting for the export market to open up, many cotton lobster farmers have switched to raising blue lobsters. Because the demand for blue lobster from China is quite high, farmers can still export fresh products to this market.
In addition, our country also exports blue lobster and cotton lobster to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.