New EU rule may hurt Vietnam seafood exports

Vietnam seafood exporters are worried a new EU regulation requiring certificate of origin will hurt shipments to the largest market for Vietnamese seafood.

Starting January 1, exporters of fisheries products to the EU will be required to have certification for the origin of their products, a rule aimed to prevent illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU).

The new regulation would cause a lot of trouble for Vietnam’s seafood exporters as between 60 and 70 percent of them use fish that are not bred on farms.

The problem is also that most seafood processors and exporters buy raw material from dealers who collect the catch from various fishing boats, and thus it would be difficult to find out their origin.

Since the exporters can’t make sure the product origins are properly reported to them, the responsibility of providing precise information about their product lies in the hands of fishermen.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vu Van Tam, said although the regulation is “new and hard”, local exporters need to play by the rules as the EU is a key market.

The EU is the largest importer of Vietnam’s seafood products, accounting for 30 percent of total export turnover. More than 300 Vietnamese exporters have ship 41 different products to the bloc.