July 15, 2010

 

Bangladeshi stranded shrimp consignment gains access to EU

After exporters obtained a key quality certification, the EU has started allowing the entry of Bangladeshi shrimp consignment earlier blocked under its new health regulation, a trade official said Monday (Jul 12).

 

The official said the Commerce Ministry issued more than 100 quality certificates over the last few days to help shrimp exporters meet the stringent food safety requirement in the 500 million consumer strong EU market.

 

The 27-nation regional grouping, in a recent notification, has restricted the use of crystal violet (one kind of dye) in frozen fish, setting a limit to 0.5 parts per billion (PPB).

 

Trade officials acknowledged that the previously-shipped product had a limit of 2.0 PPB-higher than the EU standard.

 

The new health regulation has thrown local shrimp exporters into trouble as it caused hundreds of containers being stranded at multiple foreign ports before reaching the EU.

 

"We're poised to overcome the problem as about 50 containers have already made their way into the EU market after complying with rules," Kazi Shahnewaz, a vice president of Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association (BFFEA) said.

 

Neither exporters nor trade officials could say the exact number of consignments stranded in foreign ports. Exporters, however, estimated that the value of shrimp consignment stranded at different ports would be no less than 2.0 billion taka.

 

The Commerce Ministry official said the government has intensified its efforts to break the deadlock and planned to hire an international lobby to negotiate with the Union, which takes half the country's shrimp exports.