First Vietnamese Catfish Producer Approved under US Inspection Program

QDV Food Company has become the first catfish processor in Vietnam admitted into the Seafood Inspection Program as administered by the National Marine Fisheries (NMFS), United States Department of Commerce (USDC), after successfully passing an audit Inspection conducted in June 2007 at its factory in Sa Dec district, Dong Thap province.

 

Under the USDC Seafood Inspection Program, the NMFS conducts regular audits to verify that the processor continuously meets U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations governing HACCP (21 CFR 123) and Quality Management Procedures (QMP).

 

The selection enables QVD to certify that its products are produced in a USDC approved facility.

 

“This is another step taken to assure that we deliver the safest and highest quality tra and basa catfish products to the U.S. market,” said Bui Duc Quy, director of QVD Food Co.

 

“Our quality control processes have now been approved by the USDC,” he stressed, adding that all catfish products under the QVD trademarks of Basa Vina, Basa Vina Gold, Basa Vina Supreme and Basa Vina Pearl also underwent thorough examinations under the Seafood Inspection Program taken by NMFS.

 

QVD Food Co. is the only catfish producer on the approved International USDC plant inspections list. This list can be viewed at www.seafood.nmfs.noaa.gov.

 

QVD is also the only Vietnamese producer and importer which delivers “Duty Paid” Pangasius Hypophthalmus products to customers throughout the U.S. from an approved USDC facility. According to VASEP statistics, Pangasius Hypophthalmus (SWAI/ Striped Pangasius) represent approximately 99 per cent of total Pangasius production in Vietnam.

 

So far this year QVD has exported close to US$9 million in catfish products to the world’s largest market and is now looking to increase capital in order to build upon its US distribution network, Duy said. (Vietnam & World Economy, http://www.itpc.hochiminhcity.gov.vn)

 

The United States have outstripped the European to become the largest importer of Vietnamese coffee, said Van Thanh Huy, chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa) after returning from a trade promotion trip in the US.

 

A recent report from the US Department of Agriculture showed that Vietnam earned US$200 million from exporting coffee to the US in the first four months of this year, a dramatic year-on-year increase of 123 per cent.

 

Domestic coffee shipments to the US have soared sharply since the beginning of this year, said Huy, adding that Vietnamese coffee exporters had met US coffee importers and roasters to learn about their demands and explore the market.

 

They visited the coffee exchanges in Chicago and New York in preparation for operating the Buon Ma Thuot coffee exchange, the first agro-product exchange in Vietnam.

 

Statistics from the association showed that Vietnam had sold 832,000 tons of coffee abroad in the first half of this year, fetching US$1.2 billion in revenue, a year-on-year increase of 64 per cent and 110 per cent, respectively.

 

Coffee, whose export turnover reportedly accounted for 40 per cent of total agricultural export value, is Vietnam’s first export commodity to gain revenue of over US$1 billion in the first six months of this year.

 

Last year, the Southeast Asian country exported 912,500 tons of coffee, earning a total of just over US$1.1 billion.

 

With its coffee being shipped to 71 countries and territories worldwide, Vietnam has become the world’s largest Robusta coffee producer and exporter, making up 43 per cent of the global market share. (www.agroviet.gov.vn, Young People)