Japan has recently increased shrimp imports from Vietnam and became the third-largest buyer of Vietnamese shrimp in the first two months of this year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP).

The association said that the Southeast Asian country’s shrimp exports to Japan were positive in the first two months of this year.

In January, Vietnam’s shrimp exports to Japan reached over US$37 million, surging 30 percent over the same period last year.

In the January-February period, Japan was the third-largest importer of Vietnamese shrimp, following the U.S. and China, accounting for 15.4 percent of Vietnam’s total shrimp exports.

A VASEP leader said on Friday that Vietnam’s shrimp exports to the Northeast Asian country at the end of 2023 increased six percent year on year.

Japanese consumers are selective in the quality and processing of shrimp.

Meanwhile, shrimp products from India and Ecuador are processed simply and have lower prices than Vietnamese shrimp, the VASEP leader added.

Vietnam’s shrimp products, such as battered shrimp, stretched shrimp, fried shrimp, and shrimp for sushi, remain competitive in the Japanese market.

Japanese consumers will pick Vietnam’s shrimp if they want to buy processed shrimp, according to Vo Van Phung, director of Vietnam Clean Seafood Corporation in Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province, south-central Vietnam.

Indian and Ecuadorian shrimp used to dominate the Japanese market but local consumers are choosy and are willing to spend on high-quality products despite higher prices, Phung noted.

Japan is currently the world’s third-largest consumer of seafood.

The geographical distance from Japan to Vietnam is shorter than that from Japan to the U.S. and Europe, thus avoiding the Red Sea conflict which has doubled the shipping costs, and Japan’s payment methods are safer.

Therefore, many Vietnamese shrimp enterprises forecast shrimp exports to Japan to rise further.

The country’s shrimp shipments were also predicted to recover and inch up 10-15 percent to reach $4.4.3 billion in 2024.

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