The figures the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) and the state media VOV reported on 8 August are suggestive for seafood buyers. In the first half of 2026, Vietnamese tilapia exports to Japan grew 54% year on year to about US$1.4 million (about 210 million yen). June alone was about US$200,000 (about 30 million yen), up 11%. The amounts are small, but the content of the growth is changing. Frozen fillets and value-added processed goods account for most of the export value, and some of it has begun to cross to Japan as sushi and sashimi grade. A fish that was a cheap cut is at a turning point of shifting its pivot foot to raw-consumption grade.
First-half exports to Japan up 54%, yet the reality of only 2% of the whole
Placing the figures correctly reveals the picture. In the first half of 2026, Vietnamese tilapia exports across all markets totaled about US$69.4 million (about 10.4 billion yen). Of this, Japan-bound was about US$1.4 million, a share of only about 2% of the whole. What drives the volume is not Japan but Brazil. Triggered by a tariff-preference agreement at the end of 2025, Brazil-bound jumped to about US$34.9 million (about 5.2 billion yen, more than half of the whole), recording an abnormal 289-fold increase year on year.
In other words, the 54% increase in exports to Japan is on a different axis from the "volume" story like Brazil's. It is a contest of "value": how much high-unit-price raw-consumption and processing grade can be stacked up. The breakdown for Japan is 67% frozen fillets, 21% value-added processed goods, and the remaining roughly 10% other frozen items. Leaning toward forms that can command a unit price, rather than flowing large volumes of low-price whole fish, is the difference from other markets.
| Category (first half of 2026) | Amount (yen conversion) | Year on year |
|---|---|---|
| Total tilapia export value (all markets) | About US$69.4 million (about 10.4 billion yen) | — |
| Of which Brazil-bound | About US$34.9 million (about 5.2 billion yen, more than half of the whole) | 289-fold |
| Of which Japan-bound | About US$1.4 million (about 210 million yen) | +54% |
| June alone, Japan-bound | About US$200,000 (about 30 million yen) | +11% |
Yen conversion rates: US$1 is about 150 yen. Vietnamese dong is converted at about 60 yen per 10,000 dong (ty = 1 billion dong; 100 ty dong = 100 billion dong, about 600 million yen).
The white fish that vanished as "izumidai" returns as sashimi grade
For the Japanese table, tilapia is not a first-time fish. From the 1960s on, farming spread as a substitute for red sea bream, and at the distribution stage it was given product names like "izumidai" and "chikadai" and lined up at conveyor-belt sushi and supermarket fresh-fish counters. Its mild, thick white flesh is close to red sea bream and black sea bream and is easy to handle cooked or raw. But when the operation of the Food Labeling Act tightened and selling it under the name "izumidai" became difficult, it nearly disappeared from storefronts and conveyor lanes alike.
This export to Japan reverses that history. But the way it returns is different. Whereas it once was a "cheap substitute" dressed up as a premium fish under another name, this time it is trying to enter the Japanese market head-on as a sashimi grade with origin, water quality, parasite control and traceability in order. Rather than hiding the name, it brings out value by disclosing the production history. Even for the same fish, the design philosophy of how to sell it has flipped.
The Barents Sea cod quota halves, and a shortage of white-fish supply becomes a tailwind
This move is contiguous with the circumstance of the world's white fish thinning out. The 2026 Barents Sea cod catch quota fell to 48,530 tonnes, less than half the previous year, and the raw-material price of Norwegian cod rose to a level of about US$12,000 per tonne. Demand flows to substitute species such as Alaska pollock, and farmed tilapia, whose world production is projected to grow 3.3% (about 242,000 tonnes), is becoming the receiving vessel.
Japan's conveyor-belt sushi and processed foods have relied on imported cod and Alaska pollock for a sizable part of their white fish. If raw-material prices stay high, it is a natural flow for eyes to turn to farmed white fish stable in price and supply. Vietnamese tilapia is aiming at this empty seat as "a white fish that can also take on sashimi." Whereas Brazil-bound runs on volume, it is closer to reality to read Japan-bound as going to open a different door, the supply and demand of high-priced white fish.
Vietnam Clean Seafood's six-month overhaul, and the conditions needed for sushi
The company that actually moved is concrete. Vietnam Clean Seafood Corporation, based in Can Tho City (CEO: Vo Van Phuc), overhauled its equipment and process over about six months and then, in July 2026, made its first shipment of sushi and sashimi fillets to Japan. In addition to Japan, the company is aiming at the US and Canada. For the US, there is also a reported case of a cooperative in Hai Phong City exporting large tilapia raised with advanced farming technology.
Routing to raw consumption demands a different level from freezing whole fish. Only when a series of conditions are met, from the farming pond's water quality, raw-material management, freezing and parasite control through food safety and traceability, does it pass as sashimi grade. VASEP chairman Do Ngoc Tai shows confidence in tilapia's potential in high-value-added segments like sashimi, as the supply of marine fish thins and fishing costs rise. On the other hand, the chairman also points out that the wall for value-added goods "is not in production but in domestic distribution and sales." One processor expects 100 ty dong (= 100 billion dong, about 600 million yen, about 2% of total revenue) from domestic sales of such products, but developing buyers is a challenge, it is said.
What the Japanese sourcing manager looks at is not price but the freezing record and traceability
From an import and sourcing practical viewpoint, what should be checked is not the unit price itself. Since it is used raw, whether the records of freezing temperature and time as a parasite measure, the history from farming pond to processing, and food-safety certification are all in place is what divides whether a deal is possible. Vietnam has about 510 certified processing plants for export, annual fry production of 1.4 billion head, and 2025 output of 420,000 tonnes (up 33% year on year), so the foundation of volume is in place. The question is how much of that volume can be placed under raw-consumption-grade management.
On the second half, VASEP touches on the possibility of exports entering difficult terrain depending on policy developments in Brazil and the US, and recommends diversifying destinations. A structure reliant on single-pole Brazilian volume is also a risk. The Japan-bound "value" sales channel, small in amount though it is, has meaning as one move in that diversification. For Japanese buyers, it is a phase where they can evaluate a substitute for soaring cod and Alaska pollock while the price has not yet fully set.
A contest apart from Brazil-bound volume has begun moving in Japan
What the 54% increase in the first half of 2026 and the shift toward frozen fillets and value-added goods show is that Vietnamese tilapia has begun running "volume Brazil" and "value Japan and US" at the same time. The white fish that once hid its name and blended into conveyor-belt sushi is now trying to re-land as a sashimi grade with its history disclosed. That this shift is happening at a time when the world's white fish is thinning cannot be overlooked by the Japanese sourcing side either. While it is still at a 200-million-yen scale, it is worth checking the substance of the region and its management with your own eyes.
Related pages for this article
- Vinh Long province | A region in the Mekong Delta where pangasius and tilapia farming thrive
- Eight features of the Mekong Delta farming belt | Fisheries as a pillar supporting Vietnam's economy
- Vietnam produce guide | Shrimp and seafood export strategy to Japan and the US
Sources
- VOV, "Vietnamese tilapia moves upmarket, gains traction in Japan, US" (8 August 2026)
- DTiNews / Dân trí「Vietnam exports tilapia to Japan for sushi and sashimi」
- VietnamPlus「Brazil spends nearly 35 million USD on Vietnamese tilapia, imports surge 289-fold」
- SeafoodSource「Kontali predicts tight cod supply, high whitefish prices in 2026」
