A meeting between stakeholders in the Indian shrimp exports market to the European Union and E.U. officials at Seafood Expo Global on Wednesday, 25, April, resulted in a clearer picture in regard to how the E.U. will handle inspection rates moving forward.
The highly anticipated results of an audit of India’s seafood quality control regime, undertaken in November 2017, will be published by 4 May at the latest, according to Willem van der Pijl, the director of the Seafood Trade Intelligence Portal (STIP), which helped organized the meeting along with the European Seafood Importers and Processors Alliance (SIPA). The preliminary report of a second audit, of India’s residue monitoring plan, is expected to be delivered on Friday, 27 April, van der Pijl said. The full report is not expected for an additional two to six months, he said, and E.U. authorities will not make any decision as to next steps until that happens.
The audits, and a subsequent meeting between Indian shrimp exporters, European importers, and E.U. officials in January 2018, came in response to a rise in incidents of antibiotic-contaminated shrimp arriving in the E.U. from India. As a result, in 2016, the E.U. increased the number of Indian shrimp consignments it inspected from 10 percent to 50 percent. It has also reportedly been considering other measures it can take to stem antibiotic-contaminated shrimp from entering the E.U. market, including a potential ban on all Indian shrimp imports.
However, such a ban is unlikely, van der Pijl said. Officially, the E.U. officials at the 25 April meeting did not declare what action they would take, but “everyone on both sides was very positive” following the event, according to van der Pijl.
“There was no hint as to what the preliminary findings were, except that worries are focused at the level of primary production,” he said.
While that piece of information may help to ease tensions, the delayed timeline for the delivery of both full reports will cause further uncertainty in the marketplace.
“And uncertainty is terrible for business,” van der Pijl said.
While those involved in the Indian shrimp sector await the delivery of the final reports, STIP and India’s Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA), as well as the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI), are seeking to organize a permanent multistakeholder group to address problems arising at the level of primary production.
“The Indians have given to the European Commission authorities a list of actions already get the farming sector under control, and there is momentum to make change,” van der Pijl said. “However, there have been already five more rejections this year, so the problem is not yet solved.”
