June 7, 2005

EU helps Bangladeshi shrimp with 10 million euros

The EU will contribute 10 million euros in a programme that will help Bangladeshi shrimp farmers standardise their products following the discovery of antibiotic contamination.

The banned antibiotic nitrofural has been found repeatedly in shrimp shipments from Bangladesh, and a government committee has been charged with identifying the source and will submit a report within a month.

The EU buys 45 percent of Bangladeshi shrimp while the US takes 33 percent, and Japan five percent. Shrimp exports is Bangladeshi's second largest earner at US$400 million a year, or eight percent of  the country's total exports.