Vietnam’s shrimp exports hit a historic record, reaching a turnover of $4.65 billion in 2025, a 19.9% increase compared to 2024.
Shrimp continues to hold the largest share of Vietnam’s total seafood export value, maintaining its role as the primary pillar for the entire industry’s growth. The year 2025 also marked an unprecedented milestone as Vietnamese shrimp exports to China surpassed the $1 billion mark for the first time in history.
Specifically, shrimp exports to China in 2025 reached 123,000 tons, valued at $1.24 billion. This represents a 48.4% surge in volume and a 63.3% jump in value compared to 2024. With these figures, China has become the first market to ever exceed $1 billion in annual Vietnamese shrimp imports.
In contrast, the United States, which served as Vietnam’s largest shrimp market for many years, peaked at $807 million in 2022 and has never reached the $1 billion threshold.
Citing data from China Customs, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) noted that in the first 10 months of 2025, China's total shrimp import value reached approximately $4.3 billion (up 10% year-on-year), while import volume grew by only 1%. This trend indicates that Chinese consumers are increasingly willing to pay a premium for high-quality and deeply processed shrimp products, leading to a visible rise in average selling prices.
This shift in Chinese consumption habits—moving from mass-market products to the premium segment—has created favorable conditions for Vietnam’s specialized products, particularly lobster and black tiger shrimp.
Lobster became Vietnam’s #1 shrimp export to China in 2025, reaching $817 million. This figure is double that of 2024 and accounts for nearly all of Vietnam’s total lobster export turnover globally. Following lobster is black tiger shrimp, another of Vietnam’s traditional high-end export products.
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