The Thai market is 'addicted' to Vietnamese squid and octopus. Which product is the 'hottest'?

Vietnam's squid and octopus exports to Thailand increased by 37% in the first half of the year, making Thailand Vietnam's fourth largest single market, and with the prospect of becoming a key market thanks to many favorable factors.

Squid caught in Vietnam's waters - Photo: N.TRI

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), in the first half of 2025, Vietnam's squid and octopus exports to Thailand recorded a remarkable step forward with a turnover of 33 million USD, an increase of 37% over the same period in 2024. Thailand is currently Vietnam's 4th largest single import market for this product group, accounting for 10% of the total export value of squid and octopus nationwide.

In the export structure, squid is the main product with a turnover of 32.5 million USD, accounting for 98.4% of the total turnover, up 35.6%. Notably, dried and grilled squid products (including instant dried squid) reached 30.24 million USD, up nearly 30% - continuing to be a product group favored by the Thai market.

A bright spot was live, fresh and frozen squid with a turnover of 2.276 million USD, a sharp increase of 254%. Meanwhile, although accounting for only a small proportion of the total turnover, octopus exports from Vietnam to Thailand still recorded impressive growth, reaching 0.513 million USD, an increase of 149.9%.

Of which, processed octopus grew strongly with a growth rate of up to 250.9%. Dried, salted, live, fresh or frozen octopus also showed positive signals with a growth rate of 43.4%.

"With the advantage of few technical barriers and consumers having tastes close to Vietnam, Thailand will be one of the favorable destinations for Vietnamese seafood, and can completely become one of the key markets for the squid and octopus industry in the coming period.

This is the basis for Vietnamese seafood enterprises to consider investing and expanding octopus product lines, especially products with high processing content," said a VASEP representative.

However, according to businesses, competitiveness in Thailand is also gradually increasing as the country promotes diversification of supply sources, especially from China, Argentina, India... - where product prices are competitive. This forces Vietnamese businesses to constantly improve product quality, while optimizing production and logistics costs to gain an advantage.

Seafood exports increase well

According to VASEP, in July, seafood exports reached about 971 million USD, up 6.1% over the same period. In the first 7 months of this year, the country's seafood export turnover reached about 6.22 billion USD, up 17.2% over the same period. Of which, shrimp continued to be the main export item, reaching 2.49 billion USD in 7 months, up 23.6% over the same period.

Many businesses believe that in the last months of 2025, Vietnam's seafood export activities will face many difficulties due to the impact of the 20% reciprocal tax rate of the US.

However, in general, there are still certain advantages such as the wide open growth space for deeply processed products, the recovery of the Chinese and Japanese markets...

NGUYEN TRI

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thi-truong-thai-lan-ghien-muc-bach-tuoc-cua-viet-nam-san-pham-nao-nong-nhat-20250810192144017.htm