 |
These companies received the right to export their products to the EU as of April 6, 2007.
However, the Vinh Long seafood processing workshop has been removed from the list as the workshop has been shut down. In addition, as per request from the Vietnamese side, the EU has corrected the information about 23 Vietnamese companies.
The fact that the EU has allowed more Vietnamese companies to export seafood products to the market shows that Vietnamese processing workshops can meet the requirements by the EU on food hygiene, which should be seen as good news for the aquaculture and seafood industry.
However, new concerns have come from Australia since the country decided to limit imports with the import risk analysis (IRA) on shrimp products. The new method will focus on the degree that diseases in shrimp products can affect human health.
Australian agencies have announced that they will increase examinations of imported shrimp products to find the five most dangerous diseases, and the country will only import products from countries free of these diseases. Several kinds of shrimp products, including tempura, will have to be sulphurised at 85oC. Moreover, the products must get quarantine certificates from competent agencies to be imported to the country.
Thailand has estimated that it would suffer the loss of Baht2bil if Australia applies the above mentioned strict examination.
Statistics show that Australia is one of the 10 most important markets for Vietnamese seafood exporters. Vietnam exports 44% of its total frozen shrimp exports to the country. Some 40 Vietnamese companies export to Australia and earn the turnover of $60-70mil a year.