May 4, 2012

Vietnam seafood exporters protest on high testing fees

Paying high testing fees which doubled since the Law on Food Safety became effective last July are being complained by the Vietnamese seafood exporters.

Complicated procedures for food safety requires the seafood batches to stay 7-10 days before being shipped abroad, making Vietnamese seafood uncompetitive in the global market, said Nguyen Huu Dung, vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers.

Some import markets do not ask for health certificates, but the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQAD) requires all export batches to have them, said Tran Van Linh, director of Thuan Phuoc Seafood JSC.

One giant exporter complained that the company had to pay VND1.8 billion (US$85,000) for acquiring health certificate for its seafood product exported to Japan although Japanese authorities did not ask such kind of document.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said the ministry will review testing procedure to ease for local exporters.

Seafood is Vietnamese export stable product. In 2012, the country targets to earn US$6.5 billion from seafood export compared to over US$6.3 billion in 2011.