July 9, 2009
EU threaten ban on non-catch certified seafood imports
The Indian seafood export industry might be facing a very serious threat by next year as EU has strictly warned to import only those seafood items having a catch certificate.
This will be strictly implemented from January 1, 2010, according to the official journal of EU.
The EU Regulation states that fishery products shall only be imported into European Community when accompanied by a catch certificate in conformity with the regulation.
The export sector of India is now facing a very serious issue relating to this certificate that will badly hit the Indian prospects if there will not be a speedy action.
As per the regulations, the export from India could be banned for non-conformity from January 1, 2010 unless there would be speedy solution for this issue, said a leading Kochi based exporter.
The same problem is also faced by a set of East Asian nations like Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia which export is mainly to EU nations.
This development has a serious significance as India's export to EU is 135,238 tonnes valued at Rs2,515.68 crore in 2008-09.
In volume wise this is 25.51 percent and value wise 33.02 percent of the total marine exports from India.
EU has maintained the same level on the quantity front while 3.73 percent growth registered in value against the figures of 2007-08 even in the midst of a strong recessionary trend spread in EU nations.
