Farm Bill - A "steel wall" for pangasius

The Farm Bill 2014 was lately approved by the U.S. Senate; accordingly, the inspection of catfish will be shifted from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), said Nguyen Duy Khien, Head of American market Department, under Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Unfeasible standards

The FDA has been undertaking inspections of pangasius products imported from Vietnam accidently and it has not delivered quality certificates for passed items. However, with the new rule, the USDA will inspect all steps in the pangasius production chain in Vietnam. Especially, the agency focuses on the control of quality and food safety in processing facilities. Vietnamese processors and exporters would be granted the quality certificate to export products the market if they meet all standards which are applied for American companies. These are such unfeasible requirements, which are pushing Vietnam pangasius into trouble.

The U.S. and the EU are two main markets for Vietnamese pangasius. In 2013, Vietnam pangasius exports to the U.S., valued at US$380 million. Pangasius took a major part in American market. U.S. imports of frozen pangasius fillets has seen strong remarkable rise since 2007. In 2012, the country sourced 213.8 million of pounds of catfish, up 255 percent compared to 60.1 million of pounds in 2007. The American farmed catfish production was 300.1 million of pounds in 2012, down 40 percent against 496 million of pounds in 2007. Market shares of this kind of fish was on the decrease while those of pangasius from Vietnam increase from 37 percent in 2007 to 76 percent in 2012. In 2012, American consumers ate 0.73 kilogram of imported pangasius averagely, up 105 percent against 2009 because price for domestic catfish rose highly.

It is clear to note that Vietnamese pangasius is more and more popular in the U.S. However, this trend may be curbed by the new rule.

The U.S. sets up stricter technical barriers to attempt to hinder the increasingly high growth in imports of pangasius from Vietnam. In this case, the willingness of quality control is not a real reason.

If the rule is implemented, pangasius products from Vietnam are hard to meet its unfeasible standards, which even create challenges to the American catfish industry. Pangasius farming in Vietnam is different from catfish farming in the U.S, which requires high production costs. This means that the U.S. aims to shut the door on Vietnamese fish, a Vietnamese fish exporters said.

An Giang and Dong Thap are two main pangasius producing hubs in Vietnam in terms of farming area and production. Currently, Dong Thap remains superficies for pangasius farming at about 1,200 hectares, for annual production of 350,000 MT. Over years, most of local pangasius farmers are investing in farm management system in order to ensure the quality of raw fish for processing to export. Products from Vietnam have been welcomed by many consumer markets. However, with the new rule, it takes Vietnamese players a long time to meet the U.S. new standards, leading to higher input costs

The Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade has sent an official letter to the U.S. relevant agencies to protest the unfair rule of the U.S. Farm Bill 2014.