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Stricter quality controls announced for catfish
Qualities concerns over Vietnamese tra catfish will be addressed in order to keep the export quantity unchanged next year, says Luong Le Phuong, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Speaking at a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday, Mr. Phuong said the repetitive cycles of shortage and surplus that have plagued the industry have to end.
Areas breeding catfish have to be rearranged to suit every market, he added.
Deputy minister Phuong asked catfish exporters and breeders to cooperate together and support each other, so that enterprises can know how much production is available for export and breeders can know what the market demand is
The deputy minister said the ministry will check all breeding facilities as well as processing plants to test the quality of the fish being exported.
Duong Ngoc Minh, general director of Hung Vuong Company, warned that so far 33 factories had registered to process 1.7 million tons of catfish in 2009, and if all 57 factories do it, the figure will not be less than 2.5 million tons. Many of them might not process as registered, and this will result in a surplus of catfish.
Mr. Minh says the planned production should remain at the 2008 figure of 1.3 million tons.
Ngo Phuoc Hau, vice chairman of the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP), agreed with Minh, adding that the export of tra catfish will not grow strongly this year due to high interest rates and tight credit conditions.
Enterprises have to register the exact quantity for export in 2009 based on their present production capacity and last year’s production results, Mr. Hau said.
The industry harvested 900,000 tons of tra catfish in the first eight months and earned US$ one billion from exporting catfish.
Remarkably, exports to Russia have soared sharply in recent years, and the Russian market is said to have great potential. However, it also has strict quality conditions.
Some 38 Vietnamese seafood exporters have been accepted in this market, but six were banned temporarily in July due to hygiene violations. As many as 38 seafood consignments were infected with the Lysteria Monocytogene bacteria in the past eight months, the meeting was told.
Russia has warned that if Vietnamese exporters keep violating regulations on food hygiene safety, it will no longer import Vietnamese catfish.
Mr. Phuong said seafood companies have to improve quality of their products. The ministry will prohibit companies from exporting if they violate Russia’s regulations, he stressed.
VNN
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