February 18, 2009

Vietnam will enjoy more opportunities to increase its seafood exports to Japan once the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement and the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement come into effect.

According to seafood experts, the scarcity of supplies of medium-sized shrimp from major foreign producers such as India and Indonesia will also create a gap that local enterprises can exploit by boosting exports to this market.

However, they warned that Vietnamese businesses should focus upon product quality, as Japan is set to apply strict origin and hygiene standards to imported goods of this nature.

In the near future, Vietnam and Japan plan to establish a joint committee that will be responsible for addressing any product quality and food safety issues.

Japan has also agreed to help Vietnam to establish an international hygiene standards examination centre.

According to the Vietnamese Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP), Japan is Vietnam's largest market for frozen shrimp with an annual export turnover of almost US$400 million.

Quoc Viet Seafood Processing Trading and Import-Export Co. Ltd general director Ngo Van Nga said his company has recently exported a container of top-quality tiger prawns to Japan.

The Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company also exported two containers of seafood, with a total volume of 20 tonnes, to the Japanese market.