Japan likely to ban seafood from Vietnam

Japan withheld 6 consignments of seafood from Vietnam as chloramphenicol content in the consignments exceeded the permitted level. Due to this Japanese government has made the law more stringent and likely to ban imports from Vietnam. 5 Vietnamese companies--- Thuan Phuoc Seafood and Trading Company, Quy Nhon Frozen Seafood Company, Cadvimex Seafood Import-Export, Nha Trang Seafood Processing Company and Hai Nam Co. exported the 6 consignments comprising of shrimp and cuttlefish.

In recent times Japan has purchased greater amounts of jumbo and processed shrimp from Thailand and material shrimp from India and Indonesia. Japan is the second largest destination of Indian seafood, next only to EU. In the first nine months of the current year Japan imported seafood worth $525.6 million from Vietnam down by 12.2% compared to last year. The drop in seafood exports to Japan has been attributed to strict quality norms, though the numbers of sub-standard consignments have decreased. In second half of 2006, 4.6 % of the consignments were found to be containing greater than accepted levels of antibiotic residues. That figure has decreased to 1.6% in first half of 2007. In July 2007, only 0.75% was rejected.

The slowdown in Vietnamese marine exports to Japan makes a new opportunity for India, helping India to increase its exports to Japan in recent times.