Viet Nam improves seafood quality
Viet Nam improves seafood quality
The US Department of Commerce (DoC) has decided to increase anti-dumping duties on tra fish imported from Viet Nam by an additional US$0.52 to $1.29 per kilo, said the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Association secretary Truong Dinh Hoe said the tax hike was made after the US checked errors in the calculation of the previous tax, saying that the increase was consistent with the calculated data.
In March, the US imposed a high tax rate of $0.77 per kilo on Vietnamese tra fish. It chose Indonesia as the sole benchmark country to calculate the anti-dumping rate, VASEP said.
On a brighter note, Japan, one of the leading importers of Vietnamese seafood, has lifted a regulation that imported Vietnamese shrimps must be tested for trifluralin, a type of antibiotic, it said.
The regulation has been applied to all kinds of shrimps imported from Viet Nam since October 2010.
The ban led to a close watch on the industry – from shrimp breeding to final processing – by Viet Nam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
However, experts believe Viet Nam is heading in the right direction in controlling seafood quality.
To push up the export turnover of seafood to the Japanese market, deputy director of the Department of Fisheries Nguyen Huy Dien said localities needed to further focus on preventing shrimp diseases.
In addition, Dien said it was also necessary to pass on shrimp raising methods that ensured low Ethoxyquin content, an anti-oxidant substance popularly used in preserving aquatic feed.
In the first four months of this year, Japan imported shrimp worth more than US$168 million from Viet Nam, an increase of 2.4 per cent compared with the same period last year.
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