Seafood associations from Thailand, China, Indonesia and Vietnam, the top four leading shrimp exporters in the world, have announced multilateral statement of measures designed to foment cooperation and the favorable growth of shrimp production, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
The statement was reached in the 2009 Shrimp Industry Development Forum in Zhanjiang to exchange views on the current global shrimp producing and trading situation and how these are affecting each domestic industry.
The four associations represented at the meeting included China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Association (CAPPMA), Thai Shrimp Association (TSA), Indonesian Shrimp Board of Commodity (ISBC) and the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters & Producers (VASEP).
The four shrimp producing associations reached an agreement to undertake the following:
• Establish regular information exchange channels with each association assigning a coordinator to facilitate effective communication.
• Work together to take measures to reduce or eliminate trade tariffs and technical barriers, including sharing the latest technologies in shrimp farming and processing.
• Take responsibility for sharing information and maintaining a black list of international companies that engage in questionable or illegal business practices in order to discourage dealings with such companies.
• Obey the principle of producing-according-to-demand as the production scale in each country is planned and developed and of protecting the benefit in each part of the industry.
• Improve the shrimp products processing and management, to increase the variety of products, expand the domestic shrimp consumption market and increase the diversification of the market in order to boost demand.
• Establish traceability systems, and encourage enterprises to reach for appropriate international certifications.
• Consider the establishment of a global shrimp industry alliance with a rotating president, to include the other main producing countries such as Ecuador, India, Mexico, Brazil, Bangladesh, among others.
The four countries now produce 80% of the world’s farmed shrimp.
Shrimp export has decreased since 2008 due to the world economic crisis. (Vasep.com, fis.com)
Vietnamese
