November 5, 2010

Vietnam, Japan firms seek to end Trifluralin use in shrimp

On November 3, about 30 representatives from Vietnamese shrimp exporting companies and Japanese importers sought ways to stop the injection of Trifluralin substance in Vietnamese shrimp exported to Japan.

The move came after Japanese authorities announced that they started inspecting almost all shrimp containers from Vietnam imported to Japan from October 21, after detecting that tens of shrimp batches containing the Trifluralin substance, said the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Vietnamese participants, realising huge losses resulted from the inspection, said that they will tighten control over the substance before exports.

Vietnamese companies are estimated to suffer a loss of around US$10,000 per container of shrimp, or 10% of their total container value, if the container is found being infected with Trifluralin, said importer Pham Phu An from Marubeni Company.

Vietnamshould deal with the Trifluralin issue as soon as possible, otherwise Japanese authorities will likely ban imports of Vietnamese shrimp, the importer warned.

Other importing countries such as the US and EU will also tighten inspection on Vietnamese shrimp, he said.

Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of the VASEP urged domestic seafood companies to join hands in controlling the substance in not only shrimp but also other aqua seafood products.

Japan was the second largest importer of Vietnamese seafood with a total revenue of US$637.3 million between January and September, up 18.28% on-year, said that Vietnam General Customs Department.

The US took the lead with a revenue of US$648.7 million, up 25.06% from the Jan-Sept period of 2009.