Vietnam ranks as the second-largest supplier of white fish in China

In the past 20 years, China has been the world’s largest importer of white fish, of which Vietnam is the second largest supplier, primarily pangasius.

Statistics from the International Trade Center (ITC) indicate that from 2004 to 2023, mainland China stands as the world’s largest importer of white fish with total turnover of nearly $25 billion.

Vietnam ranks as the second-largest supplier of white fish, primarily pangasius, exporting nearly $3 billion and holding an 11% share of China’s white fish imports over the past 20 years.

Interestingly, China only began officially importing white fish from Vietnam in 2012. Prior to this, from 2004, imports were mainly sourced from Norway, Russia, Canada, the Netherlands, the United States, and South Korea.

Among the most favored white fish by Chinese consumer, frozen pangasius fillets rank fourth among China’s most popular white fish products over the past 20 years, after frozen Alaska pollock, frozen cod (HS codes 030363 and 030360). Over the past 20 years, China’s import value for pangasius fillets reached $2.2 billion.

In the first eight months of this year, Vietnam exported $370 million worth of pangasius to China-Hong Kong, surpassed $226 million of the US market.

In the past, China mainly imported frozen pangasius fillets from Vietnam. This year, China began buying value added pangasius products, openning an opportunity for Vietnamese pangasius companies to promote the export.

China is not yet a large consumer market for Vietnamse value added pangasius exports, but export volumes of these products to China mainland are growing rapidly. In the first eight months of this year, value added pangasius exports to this market reached $791 thousand, up 50% y-o-y.

(Source: https://vietfishmagazine.com/)