Illustrative image (Source:VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s tuna exports to Japan have dropped for four consecutiveyears since 2013 partly due to high import tariff at 6.4 percent – 7.2 percent.
After peakingat 54 million USD in 2012, Vietnam’s tuna exports to Japan went down to below20 million USD in 2016. From the third largest importer of Vietnamese tuna,Japan dropped to the sixth place the same year.
The highimport tariff reduces Vietnam’s tuna competitiveness against products fromother regional countries such as Thailand and the Philippines, which enjoy a 0percent tariff in the Japanese market.
Tuna exports showed optimisticsigns in 2016 when export value rose 9.3 percent on-year to over 500 millionUSD, but shipments to Japan accounted for only 4 percent of the total figure.
The VietnamAssociation of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has urged the Ministryof Industry and Trade to put tuna in the list of products subject to tariff cutduring negotiations for the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA).
Preliminarystatistics from Vietnam Customs showed that Vietnam’s tuna export turnover inJanuary 2017 reached nearly 34 million USD.
Shipments to Japan unexpectedly surged in themonth, making Japan Vietnam’s fourth biggest tuna market, after the US, EU andASEAN, with a year-on-year surge of 113 percent.
However, it would be difficult for the SoutheastAsian country to maintain these exports if the Japanese government still maintainsthe current import tax levels.
Currently, Vietnamese tuna accounts for a smallproportion in the Japanese market, with 0.5 percent of fresh and frozen tunamarket share and two percent of canned tuna.
To help tunaexporters gain a competitive edge, the Ministry of Industry and Trade haspledged to discuss the issue with the Japanese side when the two countriesreview the VJEPA in the time ahead.-VNA
