Vietnam's squid and octopus exports reached USD 380.2 million in the first half of 2026, up 18.8% year-on-year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP). South Korea alone accounts for roughly 37% of that value. For buyers who already source pangasius or shrimp from Vietnam and are now looking at cephalopods as an adjacent category, the growth number is less useful than understanding the spec language factories actually use — because squid and octopus are graded very differently from finfish, and a mismatch here is where landed cost surprises come from.
Squid: count-per-pound, not weight bands
Squid tubes and rings are graded by count — how many pieces make up a pound (or, less commonly outside the US, a kilogram). Standard grades you'll see on a Vietnamese factory's spec sheet include U/5, 5/8, 8/12, and 10/20 — read as "5 to 8 pieces per pound," and so on, with U/5 meaning fewer than 5 pieces per pound (the largest tubes). Whole cleaned squid follows the same logic. This matters commercially because a buyer asking for "medium squid" without specifying a count grade is leaving the size call to the factory, and factories will default to whatever size clears their current raw material mix fastest — not necessarily what your end customer expects on the plate.
Octopus: weight bands, and whole-round vs. cleaned
Octopus is graded by weight per piece rather than count — common bands run roughly 500g-1kg, 1-2kg, 2-4kg, and 4kg+, sometimes labeled with a T-size code (e.g., T4 for the 1.5-2.0kg range) depending on the factory's own convention, which is not fully standardized across Vietnam the way squid count grades are. The second variable that matters as much as size is whether the product is whole round (WR, uncleaned) or whole cleaned (beak, ink sac, and viscera removed). Whole round ships more raw material per container but shifts processing labor and yield risk onto the buyer's own plant; whole cleaned costs more per kilo but gives you a known, tested yield. Confirm which one is quoted — a price that looks 15-20% cheaper than a competing offer is often whole round being compared against whole cleaned, not a genuinely better deal.
Glazing is where landed cost quietly moves
Both squid and octopus ship with a protective ice glaze, and the standard range across the industry is 5-10% of gross weight. That's a real cost lever: the difference between a 5% glaze and a 10% glaze on the same net weight is meaningful once you're paying freight and duty on gross container weight. Ask for glaze percentage in writing on the spec sheet, not just "standard glazing," and — where your import terms allow — request net weight verification at the port rather than relying on the factory's stated figure alone. Over-glazing isn't universal in Vietnam, but it's common enough in this category globally that it's worth confirming rather than assuming.
Format follows your channel, not the other way around
Vietnamese processors offer squid and octopus as block frozen, IQF (individually quick frozen), semi-IQF, and vacuum-packed, plus a growing share of value-added formats — sashimi-grade cuts, boiled or steamed octopus, ready-to-cook rings — that track the demand shift VASEP has been reporting out of Japan and Korea. Block frozen is the lower-cost, higher-volume choice for foodservice reprocessing; IQF costs more per kilo but is what retail and portion-control buyers need. If your current supplier only offers block, that's not necessarily a red flag, but it does mean asking whether they have IQF capability in-house or are subcontracting it — the answer changes your quality-control exposure.
Before you commit volume
When you're evaluating a Vietnamese squid or octopus supplier, get three things in writing before the first order: the exact count or weight-band grade (not "medium" or "large"), whole-round vs. cleaned status, and glaze percentage. Those three lines on a spec sheet explain most of the price variance you'll see between quotes that otherwise look similar. If you're comparing offers and the numbers don't line up, I can help you check what's actually being quoted before you commit a container.
Sourcing frozen squid and octopus from Vietnam?
I work with international buyers on sourcing, supplier evaluation, and factory inspection. If you're evaluating Vietnamese suppliers for this category, I can help you avoid the common pitfalls.
Get in touch