September 13, 2013

Japan to resolve Indian shrimp import issue by year end

Japan is amenable in resolving the issue on ethoxyquin in shrimps faced by Indian marine exporters by year end.

At a meeting on September 11, 2013, the union minister of commerce & industry Anand Sharma raised this issue with Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan's minister of economy, trade and Industry. Sharma conveyed to the Japanese Minister that as the standards in India meet that in other sensitive markets like EU, this matter needs to be expedited by Japan within a specific time frame.

On this Motegi replied that they have received the request. The concerned agencies are engaged with the same. They have been asked to look into a solution by year end. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during his visit to Japan in May 2013, had also raised the issue in light of the fact that the move has severely affected the marine export from India. The Prime Minister had also expressed concern over the issue of import of Indian shrimp by Japan and had hoped that the matter would be resolved soon.

In September 2012, Japan's Food Safety Commission announced new regulations that would impose compulsory testing for ethoxyquin in shrimp consignments. The regulations brought out in 2012 introduced health standards tolerate ethoxyquin levels up to 0.01 part per million (ppm), down from the previous one ppm.

According to Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) press release dated June 24 2013, in the year 2012-13, export of frozen shrimp decreased by 11.07% in quantity terms and 21.9% in dollar terms mainly due to the ethoxyquin issue with frozen shrimp exports from India.