Vietnam’s tilapia exports rise 55% as Brazil takes half of shipments
Vietnam’s tilapia exports reached $80 million in the first seven months of 2026, up 55% year on year, according to VASEP data reported by Người Đưa Tin. Brazil accounted for half of the value, while sales to the United States fell and Japan emerged as a market for higher-value sushi and sashimi products.
Brazil drives a 55% export increase
Vietnam exported $80 million of tilapia in the first seven months of 2026, an increase of 55% from the same period of 2025, according to data from the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, or VASEP, reported by Người Đưa Tin. The result makes tilapia one of the faster-growing segments of the country’s seafood export portfolio, although the expansion has been heavily concentrated in a single destination.
Shipments to Brazil reached $40 million during the seven-month period, rising 20,065% year on year and accounting for 50% of Vietnam’s total tilapia export value. In July alone, exports to Brazil were worth $5 million, up 6,272% from a year earlier. The figures indicate a recovery in Brazilian demand for Vietnamese tilapia following previous market fluctuations and establish Brazil as the principal contributor to the sector’s growth.
United States contracts as smaller markets expand
Performance was markedly weaker in the United States. Vietnamese tilapia exports to the country fell 42% to $18 million in the first seven months, representing 23% of the total. July shipments were valued at $2 million, down 70% year on year. VASEP said declines in some markets may be short-term and cyclical: high imports in earlier months increased inventories and consequently reduced demand for additional purchases.
Saudi Arabia remained a smaller but expanding destination over the full period. Exports reached $5 million, up 24%, and represented 6% of Vietnam’s tilapia sales abroad. However, July revenue from the market declined 38% to $1 million. The divergent monthly and cumulative figures underline the uneven nature of demand and the need for processors and traders to manage inventories and orders across several destinations.
Japan opens a route to higher-value products
Japan provided another positive signal. Vietnamese tilapia exports to the market increased 61% to $1.6 million in the first seven months. July sales reached $137,000, a year-on-year increase of 175%. Vietnamese suppliers have begun serving Japan’s sushi and sashimi segment, creating an opening for premium fillets and other higher-value processed products rather than relying only on volume growth.
According to the industry account, Vietnamese tilapia is raised in recirculating freshwater and brackish-water environments with controls for water quality and production conditions. Its firm flesh, natural sweetness, limited number of fine bones and absence of a muddy odor make it suitable for fillets, sushi, sashimi and convenience foods. These attributes could help processors diversify their product mix, but the current export structure remains exposed to sharp changes in individual markets.
Diversification becomes the next test
Tilapia remains much smaller than Vietnam’s shrimp export business. Shrimp exports approached $2.8 billion in the first seven months of 2026, up 13.5%, while July sales totaled $452 million. Nevertheless, tilapia’s faster growth gives seafood companies an additional product category as tariff pressure and supply competition affect the US market and other traditional destinations show uneven demand.
Maintaining the pace will depend on whether exporters can convert the surge in Brazil into stable orders while rebuilding US sales and developing Japan and other new markets. VASEP sees room for further expansion, particularly through high-quality fillets, sushi and sashimi products, and convenient processed foods. For producers and processors, the commercial priority is therefore not only higher shipment volumes but also a broader destination base and products capable of supporting margins.