During the first three quarters of this year, Vietnam’s tuna exports nearly reached $430 million up 21.2 percent against the same period last year. As a result, tuna exports are likely to surpass the set export target of roughly $50 million. However, shrinking exports due to the EU’s issuance of ‘yellow card’ has raised great concerns for other major importers. In these difficult circumstances, exporters have to find markets that have huge potentials to replace the demanding EU market.

The Middle East, particularly Israel, will be the choice market for tuna exporters in the current circumstances.

According to experts, the Middle East, particularly Israel, will be the choice market for tuna exporters in the current circumstances when Vietnam’s traditional export markets of the US and EU have imposed strict regulations on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
With an impressive export growth of 109.3 percent to almost $35 million in the first nine months of the year, Israel gradually replaced ASEAN to become Vietnam’s third largest importer.
Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines are the biggest tuna suppliers of Israel, in which Israel imports a big volume of canned tuna products from Vietnam, making the country become the second largest exporter to Israel after Thailand. For Israel’s market segment of frozen tuna, Vietnam is dominating the Israeli market with hardly any significant rivals.
In the current climate that has seen exports to traditional markets such as the EU and the US grind to a halt, the Middle East, particularly Israel, has emerged as the best choice for domestic exporters.
Tuna imports to the Middle East have displayed a consistent upward trend over recent years, from $286 million to $791 million the last decade alone, of which Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel are the three largest importers.
Last year, Vietnam earned $41.55 million from exporting tuna to the Middle East, representing a significant rise of 29 percent.
With the high consumption demand of around 200,000 tons annually and a low import duty of 5 percent when compared to the US and EU, and free duty frozen tuna fillets the Middle East is considered a profitable market for Vietnamese tuna exporters.
Tuna exports to the market; in particular Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are forecast to increase sharply in the remaining months of 2017.
Experts said despite being surrounded by seven coastal areas, the region is still dependent on importing tuna form elsewhere because of its limited seafood exploitation.