November 16, 2007

Vietnam, South Korea ink another seafood agreement

Vietnam and South Korea entered another agreement on exported seafood hygiene in Hanoi on November 14.

The accord was signed during an inspection by a South Korea's National Fisheries Products Quality Inspection Service (NFPQIS) to inspect hygiene conditions on a number of Vietnamese local seafood processing businesses and farms.

NFPQIS head Yang Tae Seon said along the growing demand for seafood products are also requiring stricter food hygiene, thus, the need for strict safety regulations on seafood imports.

According to Nguyen Tu Cuong, head of Vietnam's National Fisheries Quality Assurance and Veterinary Directorate (Nafiqaved), Vietnam and South Korea have seen stable seafood trading in the recent past, with the number of batches of ineligible products from both sides reducing thanks to effective exchange information on each other's new food hygiene regulations and regular inspection activities.

South Korea has already permitted 34 more Vietnamese enterprises to export seafood products to its market, bringing the total number to 342.

Meanwhile, 27 Korean companies are also eligible to export seafood to Vietnam, of which six businesses got licences from Nafiqaved in 2007.

Figures released by Nafiqaved showed that Vietnam shipped nearly 64,500 tonnes of seafood to South Korea in the first nine months of this year, earning more than US$180 million, up 5.7 percent in volume and 21.3 percent in value over the same period last year.

Nafiqaved and NFPQIS will continue to beef up bilateral cooperation in monitoring seafood hygiene in 2008, with a focus placed on the netting, processing and transport of puffer fish - a product that attracted interest from the South Korea.