Russia Halts Importing Vietnamese Pangasius

Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance has decided to halt importing Vietnamese pangasius from December 20, 2008 because the product did not meet Russia’s safety and hygiene standards, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

 

The ministry said in 2007, only 16 batches of Vietnamese seafood to Russia were warned of low quality, but the number rose to 38 in 2008, including 27 batches of pangasius.

 

Mekong Delta region now has 168 seafood exporting companies, but only 57 of them have their own processing plants, accounting for 89 per cent of market share.

 

However, several of them were found exporting low quality to Russia that badly affected Vietnamese seafood’s prestige and Russia stopped importing pangasius products from six companies out of total 38 companies.

 

The decision worried Mekong Delta pangasius breeders of Vietnam as demand for the fish and its price has sharply decreased.

 

Currently, the fish is selling for only VND13,000-VND14,200 per kilogram. At the prices, local breeders suffer losses of VND1,000-VND1,500 per kilogram.

 

Nguyen Van Thanh, director of the An Giang provincial service of Agriculture and Rural Development said the Russian decision will hurt Mekong Delta’s pagansius industry because Russia is now the biggest pangasius importing country of the region, accounting for 14 per cent of its total pagasius exports.

 

Mekong Delta region’s pangasius output is forecast to decrease by 50 per cent to only 500,000 tons in 2009. (Vietnam Economic Times)