Japan has again imposed all-out ethoxyquin tests on shrimp products
imported from Vietnam instead of on only 30% of the shipments after recently
finding the banned substance on some batches of products.
This decision has sparked grave
concerns among local exporters, said the Vietnam Association of Seafood
Exporters and Producers (Vasep).
Shortly after the 30% ethoxyquin
testing imposed on Vietnamese shrimp shipments was removed by Japan, Japan’s
Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare constantly detected the banned residues
on two Vietnamese shrimp shipments in only one week. Consequently, the importer
reinstated the ethoxyquin testing percentage of 30% and then raised it to 100%
until now.
Nguyen Tuan Anh, director of Ut
Xi Seafood JSC as one of the first local companies to be subject to 100%
ethoxyquin check from Japan, complained the criteria set by the Japanese side
is too tough compared to other shrimp importers.
Tuan said his company had spent a
lot of money hiring consultants for random checks for every shrimp shipment
bound for Japan. But with the current 100% antibiotic testing in Japan, Tuan’s
company will incur a loss if its shipment is sent back due to ethoxyquin
detection.
The fact that Japan adjusted up
the check ratio to 100% over shrimps imported from Vietnam is really a tough
technical barrier to local exporters as Japan now is the biggest shrimp
importer of Vietnam in the context of slowing demands from other importers,
including the U.S. and the EU.
According to Vasep, the total
value of shrimp exports to Japan in the first half of August shrank 22.3%
year-on-year to US$21.9 million, to the U.S. plummeted 26.6% to US$26.6 million
and to the EU tumbled 27.7% to US$12.5 million.
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