A working group from Australia will visit Vietnam from 26 February to 2 March to explore how diseases on farmed shrimp are controlled before shipment.
The visit came a month after Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) temporarily suspended imports of fish and shrimp from Vietnam due to the presence of white spot disease and acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease in the Southeast Asian nation.
The Australian team will meet with representatives of the Department of Animal Health and other relevant agencies operating under the umbrella of Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to learn about Vietnam’s seafood disease prevention and supervision, and its quarantine licensing for exported farmed shrimp, according to a statement from Vietnam’s Department of Animal Health.
In addition, the team will visit local laboratories responsible for testing white spot disease and yellow-head virus disease on exported shrimp. The inspectors will also visit shrimp farms in Mekong Delta, the major shrimp farming region in southern Vietnam, including that of Viet Uc Seafood Corporation in Bac Lieu Province and other shrimp farms in Soc Trang, Kien Giang and Ca Mau provinces.
Vietnam has been a leading supplier of shrimp products to Australia for the past five years. The country exported shrimp products worth nearly USD 120 million (EUR 98 million) to Australia in 2017, up 4.6 percent from 2016, according to latest data from Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Domestic supply shortage along with rising demand have prompted Australia to up its imports of low-priced shrimp products from Vietnam and other Asian countries, VASEP added.
In regard to the seafood import suspension imposed by Saudi Arabia, Vietnam has sent a diplomatic note to oppose the move has called on the Middle Eastern nation to withdraw the decision. Vietnamese Vice Minister of Agriculture Vu Van Tam delivered the ministry’s diplomatic note to Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Vietnam Dakhil Al Johani in a meeting in Hanoi on 7 February.
