(vasep.com.vn) August 2012 witnessed a drastic reduction of 21.6 percent in Vietnam shrimp exports to almost markets, compared to August 2011. Exports to Japan declined 16.6 percent, exports to the U.S. fell 36.2 percent, to EU sank 34.2 percent.
Out of top five importers of Vietnam shrimp (Japan, the U.S., EU, China-Hong Kong and South Korea), China is the only market which has positive growth in shrimp imports from Vietnam in August 2012.
Shrimp exports to China touched over US$22.5 million, up 9.5 percent over August 2011. Sales to the market have recovered after an uninterrupted reduction in three months (April, May and June).
In the first six months of this year, shrimp exports to Japan reported a double digit growth while monthly exports to other markets saw ebbs and flows. However, since May 18th 2012, Japan started to test Ethoxyquin residue (an anti-oxidant substance used in aquatic feed producing) on 30 percent of shrimp consignments originated from Vietnam. Shrimp exports to the market started to fall.
In July 2012, shrimp exports to the Japan marked the negative growth for the first time in the year 2012 with the reduction of 1.4 percent over July 2011. In the following month, shrimp exports to the market continued to tumble drastically 16.6 percent over August 2011.
Mr. Truong Dinh Hoe, General Secretary of VASEP petitioned Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to recommend farmers to use shrimp feed with 0.5 ppm (500 ppb) Ethoxyquin content. Raw shrimp will be free from Ethoxyquin residue if farmers feed shrimp with Ethoxyquin content of 0.5 ppm in 4-5 days before harvesting, Mr. Hoe said.
Before that, the measure of seeking an alternative substance for Ethoxyquin was also suggested, however, the measure can’t be applied immediately in aquatic feed producing.
Japan market is representing 30 percent of total shrimp export value nationwide.