February 11, 2011

Vietnam's mollusk shipments face challenges in 2011

Vietnam is met with a number of difficulties in exporting mollusk in 2011 such as stringent standards from importing countries, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Vietnam's products meet technical barriers and strict requirements for food safety and hygiene from importing countries, the VASEP said.

Vietnamese products exported to the EU market have to meet the technical requirements developed by the British Retail Consortium in addition to the application of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), a process control system that identifies where hazards might occur in the food production; and ISO22000, a standard dealing with food safety.

The shortage of materials is another problem facing the sector, especially the mass death of clams in the Mekong Delta provinces in 2010 brought heavy pressure to bear upon mollusk processing businesses.

Meanwhile, quarantine regulations have created difficulties for them to import materials.

Input shortages leads to the improper breeding of mollusk which is far from meeting the domestic demand. Therefore, mollusk production still depends on the whim of nature.

In 2010, Vietnam exported 125,000 tonnes of mollusks worth US$489 million, accounting for 9.7% of the value of the seafood exports.

The country now has 442 firms involved in mollusk exports to 80 markets over the world, including the EU, the US, and the Middle East.