Brazil is Vietnam's third largest pangasius consumption market with 71 million USD, accounting for 5% of the country's pangasius export proportion to markets. According to statistics from Vietnam Customs, in the third quarter of 2023, Brazil consumed more than 33 million USD of Vietnamese pangasius, an increase of 49% over the same period last year. Cumulative pangasius exports in the first 9 months of 2023 to Brazil reached 71 million USD, down 0.4% over the same period last year.

Unlike many other markets, Brazil only imports frozen pangasius fillets HS0304 from Vietnam.

Vietnamese pangasius is loved by Brazilian consumers not only because of its delicious flavor and rich nutrition but also because of its reasonable price, especially in the context of global inflation as well as the tensions of the Russia-Ukraine war, causing people to tighten their spending.

The US is the second largest consumer market for Vietnamese pangasius after China & Hong Kong. In the third quarter of 2023, although pangasius export turnover to this market still decreased compared to the same period last year, the decline and gap have narrowed compared to the previous two quarters, the first quarter of 2023 and the second quarter. II/2023 will witness negative growth of 64% and 58% respectively compared to the same period in 2022. Besides fluctuations in food price inflation and war, high inventory in this powerhouse is also one of the reasons why the US reduced imports of Vietnamese pangasius from the end of 2022 until now.

However, there is currently not a lot of small-sized fish left, while the demand for this size for Christmas in European countries and Canada is increasing. This leads to not enough small-sized pangasius to supply these markets, causing the price of small-sized pangasius to increase.

The reason for this situation is that the market has been moving relatively slowly since the beginning of the year until now. Fish are raised in ponds longer so they are larger in size and farmers do not release many new batches of fish, thus leading to a shortage of small sized fish.

According to the Department of Fisheries, due to low export prices, the average purchasing price of raw pangasius type I in the first 8 months of 2023 fluctuates at 27,900-28,000 VND/kg, lower than the average price of about 1,500-2,000 VND/kg compared to the same period in 2022. At this price, farmers do not make a profit.

The price of pangasius fingerlings is currently at a low level. In Dong Thap, the price of pangasius fingerlings sized 30 fish/kg fluctuates around 20,000 VND/kg.