March 15, 2007

Vietnam shrimp exporters may completely lose Japanese market
 

Local shrimp exporters are facing the loss of the large and very important market of Japan, as Indonesia is boosting shrimp shipments to the market, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said on March 13.

The National Shrimp Committee of Indonesia said it strives to increase shrimp volume exported to Japan to 50,000 tonnes this year from 37,000 tonnes last year.

Strict regulations on antibiotic residues set by Japanese authorities forced Indonesian producers to limit shrimp shipments to the market to just 37,000 tonnes from 45,000 tonnes in the previous year.

Domestic shrimp producers have been in the same boat as Indonesian producers, as several Vietnamese export consignments have recently been found to contain prohibited substances by Japanese authorities.

At the end of last year, after discovering high levels of antibiotic residues in Vietnam-sourced shrimp products, Japan decided to examine 100 percent of import consignments.

Japanese authorities threatened to end Vietnam shrimp imports if they find antibiotic residues in import consignments. The situation had been improving recently, before Japan again discovered the antibiotic AOZ.

A Vietnamese official has already warned that if Japan discovers AOZ or Chloramphenicol in shrimp, the door to the Japanese market may very well be closed and Vietnam would lose the market.

In the last two months of 2006, the Vietnamese fisheries industry suffered a major drop in exports to Japan, because of recurring antibiotic residues.

Japan has long been one of Vietnam's major seafood customers, buying 27 percent of its fisheries exports last year, second only to the US.