Uncooked Australian wild caught prawns exported to Viet Nam being permitted to be reimported to Australia (22-06-2017)
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Viet Nam, on June 15th 2017, the Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources issued a notification that the Department had received a written certification by Viet Nam’s competent authority, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Viet Nam National Agro – Forestry – Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQAD) that it can meet the import conditions included in the updated health certificate.
Accordingly, from June 15th 2017, the department will be accepting permit applications for uncooked Australian wild caught prawns exported to Vietnam for processing and re-imported into Australia. The department’s Biosecurity Import Conditions database system (BICON) has been updated to reflect the new requirements.
Import permit applications for Australian wild caught prawns processed in countries other than Vietnam will be accepted once the competent authorities in these countries provide assurance that they meet Australia’s new import conditions.
Earlier, on January 7th , Australia issued an emergency order to suspend the import of shrimp and uncooked shrimp from Asian countries, including Vietnam, due to fears of an outbreak of white spot disease in Australia. Recently, on 16th May, the Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources had announced a review of biosafety risks and import conditions for cooked, uncooked prawns and prawn products imported to the Australia, in which uncooked prawns and uncooked prawn meat that is marinated for human consumption (uncooked marinated prawns) are exempt from the suspension. The import permit application would only be accepted after the department received assurance that the competent authorities in exporting countries give complying with import conditions.
According to statistics from the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia, in the first quarter of 2017, Australia imported 5,980 tons of shrimp, valued at US$ 58.678 million, down 8.2 per cent in volume but up 0.8 per cent in value. Of the total, Viet Nam remained Australia's largest shrimp supplier, gaining 1,925 tons, worth US$ 19.567 million, down 18.9 per cent in volume but up 3.5 per cent in value compared to Q1 in 2016. According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), as of May 15th, 2017, Vietnamese shrimp imports reached US$ 31.7 million, decreased 1.3 per cent year on year, accounting for 3.1 per cent of total shrimp export value of Viet Nam in the first five months.
Hương Trà