Japan Mulls Ban on Vietnamese Cuttlefish Imports

Japan, one of Vietnam’s largest seafood importers, is considering a ban on Vietnamese cuttlefish due to antibiotic residues, according to the Ministry of Trade.

 

Japanese authorities recently notified the ministry they continued to find Chloramphenicol residues in cuttlefish imported from Vietnam in the past four months despite earlier warnings.

 

They named 16 Vietnamese seafood exporters as the offenders. These included six companies from the central Binh Thuan province, four from Ho Chi Minh City, and two from the southern Kien Giang province.

 

Earlier in July, Japanese authorities decided to perform antibiotic tests on all Vietnamese cuttlefish imported into the country as warnings issued to authorized agencies and seafood exporters and processors to tighten control over seafood quality did not improve the situation.

 

Japan also imposed antibiotic tests on 50 per cent of all Vietnamese shrimp imported into the country.

 

Tests made on four batches on September 18 revealed Chloramphenicol and Nitrofuran residues, the Ministry of Trade said.

 

The country earned US$47 million from shipments of cuttlefish and octopus to Japan in the first seven months this year.

 

Japan has for long been one of Vietnam’s major seafood customers, accounting for 26.8 per cent of its fisheries exports, second only to the US.

 

Vietnam is likely to earn US$750-800 million from seafood exports to Japan this year. The figure is expected to reach US$1-1.2 billion by 2010.