India to gain from Japan's ban on Vietnam seafood exports

India stands to gain from Japan's likely ban on imports of marine food from Vietnam on account of poor quality.

Recently, Japan withheld six consignments of seafood from Vietnam as chloramphenicol content in the consignments exceeded the permitted level.

Following this, the Japanese government has made the laws more stringent and it is likely that there will be a complete ban on imports from Vietnam.

Japan is the second largest destination of Indian seafood, next only to European Union.

The six consignments, five of shrimp and one cuttle fish, were exported by five Vietnamese companies "" Thuan Phuoc Seafood and Trading Company, Quy Nhon Frozen Seafood Company, Cadvimex Seafood Import-Export, Nha Trang Seafood Processing Company and Hai Nam Co. The Japanese government said that the imports would either be returned or destroyed.

Sources at the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers said that the strict regulations on food hygiene had slowed down Vietnam's seafood exports to Japan.

In the first nine months of the current year, Japan imported seafood worth $525.6 million from Vietnam, down by 12.2 per cent over the same period last year.

The drop in seafood exports to Japan have been attributed to strict quality norms, though the number of substandard consignments has decreased considerably.

In the second half of 2006, 4.6 per cent of export consignments were found to be containing greater than the permitted levels of antibiotic residue. That figure decreased to 1.6 per cent in the first half of 2007. In July 2007, only 0.75 per cent export consignments were rejected.

Experts have warned that Vietnam may lose the Japanese market if hygiene problems continue. Meanwhile, Japan is already seeking other supply sources. The country has purchased greater amounts of jumbo and processed shrimp from Thailand and material shrimp from India and Indonesia.

The slowdown in Vietnam's marine exports to Japan comes as a boon for India, with the country's exports to Japan picking up in recent times. Valuewise Japan contributed 16.18 per cent (Rs 1353.38 crore) to India's total marine exports during 2006-07.

Only European Union was ahead of Japan in importing seafood from India. In terms of quantity, exports to Japan increased by 12.80 per cent to 67,437 tonnes. Experts believe that the country's exports to Japan may further rise provided quality norms were strictly adhered to.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Commerce (DoC) extended the period for finalising the preliminary results of the second administrative review of anti-dumping duty on shrimp to 365 days. Earlier, the department had stipulated the period to 245 days and the period ended by October 31, 2007.