Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has signaled it will remove quarantine regulations for frozen processed seafood products imported to the country for the purpose of reprocessing domestically for export.
A new circular was issued by the ministry 28 July, and will come into force on 11 September, 2022. It is an amendment to a 2016 circular on quarantine regulations requiring almost 100 percent of imported processed seafood cargoes to be quarantined before customs clearance.
Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) on 1 August welcomed the ministry’s move, saying it took seven years for the seafood industry to finally make the change. The new circular, VASEP said, will provide relief for the seafood industry from the “burden” of “unnecessary” quarantine regulations that have already been in place for years. It will make it easier for seafood companies to import materials for processing for exports, as domestic supply of materials is not sufficient to serve the country's processing demand.
VASEP said during the consulting process for the new circular it also proposed the ministry remove quarantine regulations for imported processed seafood products for domestic consumption, should the products be proven to contain no risk of spreading aquatic diseases into Vietnam. However, its proposal was not accepted and was not added in the new circular.
Vietnam imported seafood worth USD 1.24 billion (EUR 1.21 billion) in the first six months of 2022, a growth of 20.4 percent from the same period last year. The imports came mainly from India, with USD 151.3 million (EUR 147.8 million), up 1.5 percent year-on-year; Norway with USD 120.5 million (EUR 117.7 million), edging down 1.8 percent from January-June of 2021; China with USD 110 million (EUR 107.4 million), up 24.7 percent year-on-year; Taiwan with USD 96 million (EUR 93.8 million), increasing 61.9 percent year-on-year; and Japan with USD 90.9 million (EUR 88.8 million), down 2 percent year-on-year, according to Vietnamese customs data.
Photo by Toan Dao/SeafoodSource
