January 27, 2011

Ukraine permits only 10 firms to import Vietnam's tra fish

Ukraine had permitted tra fish shipments from only 10 out of 30 Vietnamese firms since January 20, after inspections late last year, said the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Among them are Hung Vuong JSC, Europe JSC, Viet Phu Agro-seafood JSC, An Giang Seafood JSC, Viet An JSC, Mekong Seafood JSC, An Thinh Seafood Processing JSC, Vinh Hoan JSC and Seafood No. 4 JSC.

Vietnam's National Agro Forestry Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQAD) has sent a dispatch to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine asking for an explanation as to why it has stopped other 20 companies from exporting the fish into the European country.

In the dispatch, NAFIQAD also asked Ukraine to supply requirements and criteria for seafood producers to be approved to export pangasius fish into Ukraine's market.

NAFIQAD also proposed that Ukraine should import the same volume of Vietnamese pangasius fish as the country did before January 20.

Vietnam was home to 5,420 hectares of pangasius fish farming areas in 2010. The figure was expected to reach between 6,000 hectares and 6,300 hectares in 2011 with a production output of 1.2-1.3 million tonnes, generating an export value of between US$1.45 billion and US$1.55 billion.