EU Investigates Seafood Processing in Vietnam

EU Investigates Seafood Processing in Vietnam

The European Union (EU) has sent a delegation to investigate the use of banned antibiotics and chemicals in seafood processing activities in Vietnam between April 18-29, this year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

The investigations of EU delegations will decide how many Vietnamese seafood exporters will be allowed to ship seafood products to these countries in the future, VASEP said, adding that the EU now okayed 153 Vietnamese seafood firms to ship products there.

In recent years, Vietnam has seen rapid growth in seafood exports to the EU however local exporters have often faced difficulties due to the illegal use of antibiotics: Chloramphenicol, Nitrofurans and Malachite. In 2004, around 22 lots of Vietnamese seafood products to the EU, 13 lots to the US and 27 lots to Canada were rejected because of these problems.

To boost seafood products to these markets and protect the country's reputation in the world market, the Ministry of Fisheries has required all seafood processors to tighten control over the use of antibiotics in their products.

It also asked the Vietnam Association for Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) and the Fisheries Association to draft a seafood promotion program in these countries this year.

Under the plan, VASEP will open representative offices in the EU to promote exports to potential markets. Vietnam plans to further exploit potential markets and access new outlets, with the eventual hope of receiving a US$3 billion turnover.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also announced that it would check the appliances of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) standards of Vietnamese seafood processors in September this year.

In related news, Vietnamese shrimp exporters to the US, who are already suffering from an anti-dumping duty imposed by the US last year, now face a more onerous trade burden under a new US customs requirement that Vietnamese exporters will be required to pay bonds to US insurance companies to insure payment of the exporters' anti-dumping duties.

These bond payments are required to gain entry to the US market. Refund of the bond payments may take several years, and would hurt small and medium-sized shrimp enterprises in Vietnam. The formula used by the US Customs sets the bond at an amount equal to the exporting country's current anti-dumping rate multiplied by the gross amount of business done by the exporter in 2004.

Vietnam & World Economy, VNA