China accounts for 90% of fishmeal export market share, South Korea spends tens of millions of USD to buy surimi fish cakes from Vietnam

The article highlights the dynamics of Vietnam's surimi fish cake industry and its export performance in 2024, with a slight revenue decrease due to strong competition from Russian cold-water surimi products. Despite this, Vietnam remains a significant player in the market, with South Korea, Thailand, and China as the primary importers. The article also touches on the broader context of Vietnam's fishmeal export market, where it ranks second globally and expects a slight increase in demand in 2025. Leveraging its advantage in pangasius waste, Vietnam's surimi and fishmeal industries have the potential to grow further, particularly in recovery periods of major consuming countries' tourism industries. The article emphasizes the importance of these industries for job creation and economic contribution, with hundreds of enterprises engaged in surimi and fishmeal production and export.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), surimi fish cake export turnover in 2024 is estimated to reach approximately 300 million USD, a slight decrease compared to 2023 due to strong competition from Russia with cold-water fish surimi products. Currently, due to excess supply due to the embargo, surimi prices from Russia are 20% lower than tropical fish cake products from Asian countries, of which Vietnam, Thailand, and India are the most affected. In 2024, the countries importing the most surimi fish cake from Vietnam are: South Korea 71 million USD, Thailand 65 million USD, China 34 million USD. In the past 5 years, Vietnam has earned 300 - 420 million USD per year from surimi exports, accounting for 4 - 5% of total seafood export turnover. Vietnam's surimi products include both marine fish surimi and pangasius surimi, meeting the diverse needs of the international market. According to statistics, in 2023, the export turnover of fish ...