DIRECTORATE OF FISHERIES

In November 2018, the National Assembly passed a Resolution on ratification of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP). This Agreement took effect for Vietnam from January 14, 2019.

CPTPP members are committed to eliminating import duties on nearly all of their import tariffs. The majority of CPTPP countries apply a common import tax to all other partners, except for some countries such as Canada, Chile, Japan and Mexico that apply separate import tariffs for each CPTPP country.

Most seafood products, including tra fish, will be removed tariff lines when the CPTPP Agreement comes into effect. Tra fish export enterprises may also be optimistic to believe that there will be many opportunities for Vietnam in some traditional or potential markets of tra fish such as Mexico, Japan or Chile.

Currently, Mexico is the fifth largest Tra fish export market of Vietnam (after China - Hong Kong, EU, US and ASEAN). In the first 4 months of 2019, the export value of tra fish to this market reached US$ 40.8 million, up 31.5% over the same period in 2018. This is also the largest tra fish export market in Latin America and in 10 CPTPP countries. This product when exported to Mexican market will enjoy 0% tax in the 3rd year since the CPTPP Agreement comes into effect, this is also an opportunity for businesses to increase export to this market in the near future.

Although, compared to major seafood import markets in Latin America such as Mexico or Brazil, Chile is only a small consumer market of Vietnamese tra fish. However, in recent years, especially after the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Vietnam - Chile was signed at the end of 2011 and came into effect in early 2014, the export of tra fish to this market has changed a lot, particularly, Chilean consumers have gradually known about tra fish of Vietnam. Currently, with the import tax advantage of 0% for frozen tra fish (HS 030462), through Chilean distribution channels, Vietnamese products will not only be consumed in this country, but also introduced and present in other countries in the region. In 2018, the value of exporting tra fish to Chile also increased by 11.3% over the previous year.

In Japan market, the year of 2018 marked the growth of Tra fish export to this market. In this year, the total value of tra fish export to Japan increased by 37.6% compared to 2017. Moreover, in the first 4 months of this year, exporting tra fish to Japan reached US$ 8.58 million, up by 38.6% compared to the same period in 2018. With the first two free trade agreements (FTAs), Vietnam - Japan and ASEAN - Japan, some of Vietnam's seafood products exported to Japan have been removed from the tariff barrier. 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 tra fish products that are immediately exempted from the current 3.5-10.5% tax rate. Thus, with advantages from 3 FTAs ​​with Japan, Vietnamese tra fish exporting enterprises have more opportunities to further increase tra fish export activities to Japan market.

In addition to the major exporting countries, there must be some potential markets in the group of countries participating in the CPTPP Agreement such as Canada, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia. These markets are being evaluated with many opportunities to increase export market share in the coming time. In 2018, Tra fish export to these countries also saw positive growth such as: Canada increased by 19.5%; Australia increased by 34.4%, Singapore increased by 20.7%, Malaysia increased by 72.2% over the previous year.

In addition to the challenges that CPTPP brings to Vietnamese tra fish export enterprises, there are many opportunities ahead. Therefore, businesses need to study the benefits that this agreement brings in terms of tariffs to seize opportunities and continue to boldly increase exports.