October 16, 2013

The Philippines' Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has informed over the weekend that the country has resumed exports of white shrimps or vannamei to the US, China and Korea.

BFAR director Asis Perez said shrimp growers in General Santos City, Negros, Cebu and Batangas started shipping dozens of containers of white shrimps to other countries. He said each 40-foot container carried 26 tonnes of white shrimps.

"From zero exports of vannamei in so many years, we are now exporting again. We started to ship three months ago, and this will continue monthly. Last month, we exported 50 containers and for this month we will ship 60 container vans," Perez said. He said the value of vannamei exports was estimated at PHP325 million (US$7.5 million) monthly.

Pacific white shrimp or Litopenaeus vannamei is a variety of prawn caught or farmed in Pacific countries. The Philippines earlier stopped exporting white shrimps to concentrate on the production of black tiger prawns, or monodon.

BFAR earlier imposed a ban on the importation of live shrimp species to protect the industry from the early mortality syndrome, which is prevalent in neighbouring countries.

"We are now reaping the benefits of the ban. We are lucky because we're the only country which is EMS free," Perez said.

He said despite the large monthly volume of exports, the country's supply remained stable.

In a bid to revive the local shrimp industry, the Department of Agriculture (DA) also imposed stricter sanitary requirements on hatcheries. DA Secretary Proceso Alcala said he had advised vannamei growers to maintain the current growing practices to prevent the infestation of EMS. He said they were also strengthening the production of tiger prawns.