Egypt is a transcontinental country spanning the Northeast corner of Africa. It possesses a land bridge (the Isthmus of Suez) between Africa and Asia, traversed by a navigable waterway (the Suez Canal) that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean by way of the Red Sea. The country has a 2,450 kilometer long coastline and a 6,000 square kilometer water surface area.

Production performance

Egypt has a long tradition of the fisheries, in which freshwater fish is mainly caught in the Nile region and great lakes. The Mediterranean waters, with main fishing ports including Matrouh, Anfoshi, Madaaia, Rashied, Boruls, Damietta, Port Said and Aresh, account for about 60 percent of the total marine catches; and the Red Sea, with main fishing ports including Attaka and Salakhana, near the Suez Canal, makes up nearly 40 percent. Main caught seafood in Egypt includes sardine, shrimp and anchovy, etc.

However, the aquaculture industry had rapidly prospered in the 1980-2000 periods. According to FAO’s data, the farming production in 1980 reached only 19,000 MT and the catch 121,400MT; however, in 2000, the latter occupied 384,300 MT, while the former rapidly grew to 340,100 MT. The farming production has exceeded the catch since 2003 and hit 705,000 MT valued at US$1.25 billion in 2009, constituting 65 percent of Egypt’s total production. Egypt ranked 11th worldwide in the farming production and first in Africa with the proportion of 73.8 percent in volume and 64.2 percent in value in 2008.

Main farmed seafood in Egypt includes tilapia, mullet, carp and catfish, etc., in which tilapia accounts for more than half of its total farming production, making up 13.8 percent worldwide in 2008. The country also ranks first worldwide in mullet production. Ninety-nine percent of its farming projects belong to the private sector. The government takes on the role of supplying juveniles, farming techniques, international cooperation, investment incentives and favorable investment conditions for the aquaculture sector.

An attractive market for seafood suppliers

Ninety percent of the Egyptians embrace Islam as their faith; therefore, seafood has become a traditional diet in this country. However, domestic supplies from great lakes, the NileRiver and other farms fail to satisfy the local demands; moreover, the seafood production is going down due to the decreasing fish resources in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea and the increasing pollution in fish farming areas. Therefore, Egypt has to import a large volume of seafood products including squid, shrimp, peeled shrimp, pangasius fillet, and sea crab meat, etc.

According to the International Trade Center (ITC), Egypt’s largest seafood suppliers (HS 03) in 2012 include the Netherlands, Viet Nam, Norway, Taiwan, Korea, China, and Spain, etc.

The population of Egypt currently reaches 83 million people, placing the country the second most populous in Africa. The gap between the rich and the poor in Egypt is significant. The wealthy class, residing mainly in two big cities Cairo and Alexandri, is the main consumers of agricultural products. The Egyptians tend to consume average quality products with affordable prices. High quality products are still among people’s choice, but at a lower consumption level.

Seafood in Egypt is sold in supermarkets, stores and other markets. Seafood restaurants rapidly grow in number, especially in densely populated areas and big cities. Seafood consumption in both markets and supermarkets is highly growing because of its protein-rich attribute and its importance in Egypt’s traditional dietary customs. The per capita seafood consumption reaches 16 kilograms per year. Egypt’s seafood consumption demands in 2008 nearly doubled that in 1988 and recently reach about 2 million MT per year.

A lucrative market for Viet Nam’s shrimp and pangasius

The value of Viet Nam’s seafood exports to Egypt before 2005 stayed very low, reaching only US$296,000. However, a large-scale conference on Viet Nam’s seafood scheduled for August 2005 in Dubai had helped familiarize the Egyptians with Viet Nam’s pangasius, which has then rapidly gained the market acceptance thanks to the high quality and attractive prices. Egypt’s seafood imports from Viet Nam, especially pangasius fillet and peeled shrimp, have strongly developed in value.

Viet Nam’s seafood exports to Egypt occupied US$4.4 million in 2006 and spectacularly thrived to US$20.44 million in 2007, 4.5 times higher than the previous year. Egypt has become the largest importer of Viet Nam’s seafood in the Middle East and Africa since 2008 with US$63.2 million of the import value, which rapidly expanded to US$79.5 million in 2012.

Pangasius always occupies the largest portion in Viet Nam’s export product structure in this populous country and is available not only in supermarkets and wholesale markets but also in well-known restaurants and hotels.

However, the rumor of Viet Nam’s contaminated pangasius due to the polluted farming environment in the Egyptian press in late August 2009 has dragged the pangasius exports to this market down significantly. The climax came when the Egyptian Embassy in Ha Noi suspended the legal verification for Viet Nam’s seafood. However, seafood exports to Egypt had been interrupted only for five days thanks to timely responses of Viet Nam’s authorities.

Nevertheless, the low quality of pangasius due to the unhealthy price competition of Viet Nam’s companies, for example the high glazing rate of 30-40 percent, has directly hurt the prestige of Viet Nam’s pangasius.

 Viet Nam’s pangasius exports to Egypt in 2010 declined by 2.61 percent in volume and 8.7 percent in value year on year.

However, Viet Nam’s seafood exports to this market still reached US$60 million in 2009 and slightly increased to US$65 million in 2010 thanks to the strong growth of other seafood exports, especially shrimp. According to Trademap, Viet Nam’s shrimp exports (HS 030613) to Egypt shot up from US$4.4 million in 2008 to US$10 million in 2009, and slightly went up to US$12.5 million in 2010 and US$16.4 million in 2011. Viet Nam ranked first among shrimp exporters to Egypt to reach US$26.9 million in 2012.

Viet Nam’s pangasius is currently sold in big supermarkets including Carefour, Metro and other mini supermarkets and wholesale markets. Many five-star hotels in Egypt put pangasius on their daily menu. In fact, Egypt’s demands for Viet Nam’s pangasius fillet stay high because of the country’s large population and the affordability of Viet Nam’s pangasius. Moreover, imports into Egypt currently enjoy preferential tariffs of 0 percent for pangasius and 5 percent for shrimp. Therefore, Viet Nam’s companies see plenty of opportunities to boost shrimp and pangasius exports to Egypt.

However, Viet Nam’s companies should enhance their prestige, ensure the food safety and hygiene, and stabilize the prices in order to deeply penetrate this highly potential market. Besides, according to the Viet Nam Trade Counsellor to Egypt, the Africa, Western and South Asia Market Units, companies should select proper delivery and payment methods that do not highly favor the buyers when negotiating and signing contracts to prevent the importers from pushing down the price. Moreover, the contracts should mention a dispute settlement body (an arbitrator or a court) in case of arising disputes.

Companies should also carry out the product restructuring towards reducing the rate of red fish and increasing that of white fish, given the fact that pangasius imported into Egypt is mostly un-trimmed fish, which lowers the prices. Moreover, companies should actively participate in trade fairs and conferences and boost the advertisement in the Egypt press. This is considered one of the most important channels to promote Viet Nam’s seafood exports to this leading market in the populous continent of Africa.