Assessment of Competitiveness for Vietnam’s Frozen Yellowfin Tuna Export Industry

Abstract

The competitiveness of the export industry is a matter of top concern by businesses, industries, governments of countries as well as researchers. Especially in the context that the growing economy expands international cooperation. As a result of this, the level of competition between economic sectors of countries around the world becomes more intense and fierce. Up to now, there are quite a lot of different views on competitiveness. And many different tools are proposed to assess the competitiveness of a country’s export industry. However, there is still no unified theoretical framework for a comprehensive approach to this issue. Vietnam is a country rich in aquatic resources. According to data published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the World (FAO), in the period 2015 – 2018, Vietnam is one of the 10 countries with the largest saltwater extraction in the world and also one of the 10 countries that are largest seafood exporter in the world with 5% market share (in 2018). Regarding tuna products, this is also the main export product of Vietnam. Although there are many types of export tuna products, not all products are Vietnam’s strengths. Within the scope of this article, we evaluate the competitiveness for the export industry of Vietnam’s yellowfin tuna products through a number of quantitative indicators and on the basis of comparison with fishing countries in the East Sea, including China, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. The obtained results show that, for this product, Vietnam’s competitiveness is very weak in the international market. Therefore, this is not an item in which VN has a comparative advantage.