The recent abnormal dead fish events in four of Vietnam’s central coast provinces – Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thus Thien Hue – will not affect the supply or safety of the country’s seafood exports, said the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Marine product exports from the Southeast Asian country are “assured safe and stable,” said VASEP.
The association highlighted that the main fishing grounds supplying raw material for Vietnam’s exports are not the affected areas, but are instead provinces from Da Nang City to South Central (Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen, Binh Thuan etc.) and the south of Vietnam (Kien Giang, Ca Mau etc.). It added that most of the fish are caught by large-capacity ships in offshore fishing grounds.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) had implemented a sample survey program and has confirmed the offshore fishing areas (beyond 20-30 miles from shore) in the four affected provinces are safe.
MARD also has the necessary measures in place to assure environmental hygiene and food safety for domestic consumption and exports, including the sampling of seafood products at landing sites – to check food safety criteria as defined by Vietnamese and international standards, said VASEP.
“So far, along with tight supervision of NAFIQAD (National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department), processors and exporters have seriously implemented the control the criteria as well as enhanced traceability measures to ensure stable quality of exported products,” it said.
Vietnam is one of the largest seafood exporters in the world, accounting for more than 5 percent of the global supply, exporting to 164 markets. In the last 15 years, the total value of its seafood exports has grown four-fold to USD 6.6 billion (EUR 5.9 billion).
According to Vietnam Customs’ statistics, exports of Vietnam's marine products (tuna, squid, octopus, crabs, dried fish, and other marine finfish) reached over USD 2 billion (EUR 1.8 billion) last year, making up 33 percent of the total seafood export turnover.
Seafood exports in the first-quarter of 2016 were estimated at USD 2 billion, up 6.1 percent year-on-year, in which, the marine product exports contributed USD 646 million (EUR 579.2 million).
The total capture output in the first five months of 2016 hit 1.3 million metric tons (MT), up 2.8 percent year-on-year.
