September 10, 2010

 

Vietnam companies urge government to relax rules on aquatic imports

 

 

Vietnamese companies have urged the government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development not to apply the circulars No. 06 and 25 on imports of aquatic materials, used for re-export processing.

 

These circulars, effective on September 1, will partly prompt considerable reduction in exports of local seafood processors due to shortage of foreign-sourced input materials, resulting in lower inflows of foreign currencies into the country, state media reported.

 

The Circular No. 25 requires that food materials imported into Vietnam must have safety and hygiene certificates from quality control agencies in the countries of origin. These agencies are then required to send such certificates to the ministry's National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (Nafiqad).

 

However, many importers said it is hard to obtain these certificates.

 

Tran Thanh Chien, vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (Vasep) said that only ten out of 80 countries and territories that exported aquatic materials to Vietnam had agreed to observe the circular, as registered with Nafiqad.

 

"That means many contracted shipments cannot be delivered to Vietnam due to the new rule," Chien said.

 

Chien added that the circular has been forwarded to Vietnam's trading partners via their embassies, but many countries have not had their representatives in Vietnam.

 

Meanwhile, several countries like Thailand, Myanmar and Taiwan have answered that they do not observe Vietnam's circular because they have not asked for the same from Vietnam.

 

The circular will prevent local firms from importing input materials for re-export processing, and thus will be unable to fulfil orders from foreign partners due to tight supply of imported materials, local importers said.

 

The Vasep said around 20 Vietnamese seafood firms have depended on imported materials, while hundreds others had to import materials when domestic supply was tightened.

 

Regarding the Circular No. 06, local firms said the combination of terrestrial animal products, like pork and chicken, and aquatic products into one group for control is unreasonable.

 

If these two circulars continue to be enforced, domestic exporters will lose competitive advantage to their rivals in several countries, the vice chairman added.