Will the EU remove the IUU "yellow card" for Vietnamese seafood in the next 6 months?

Vietnamese seafood is favored by the Swiss market. With the advantage of UKVFTA, the room for shrimp export to the UK is always open.

At the Trade Promotion Conference with the Vietnamese Trade Office System Abroad in October 2023, Mr. Tran Ngoc Quan - Trade Counselor, Vietnam Trade Office in Belgium and the EU said that through practical assessment, the EU acknowledged Vietnam's efforts in recommending against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and determined to remove the IUU "yellow card", but in the field, there are still some problems arising.

If the actual implementation of anti-IUU fishing measures improves compared to the last inspection, the EU will consider removing the IUU "yellow card" for Vietnam in the next 6 months, before the EU Parliament election.

Seafood exports still face many difficulties

Therefore, Mr. Tran Ngoc Quan suggested that local authorities, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, and businesses increase guidance and propaganda to fishermen to comply with regulations in exploitation and fishing in the right fishing grounds, ensuring that IUU implementation is not only good on paper.

"In the next 6 months, if we are not determined to remove the IUU "yellow card", we will have to wait a very long time. Because after the EU Parliament election, they will give more priority to stabilizing the institution before considering and deciding on other issues," Mr. Tran Ngoc Quan analyzed.

Mr. Tran Ngoc Quan also informed that Vietnam's seafood exports to the EU market are facing many challenges.

Recently, the EU's Directorate General for Health and Consumers has conducted an assessment of the quality of seafood imported from Vietnam, sampling 20% of the shipments, of which 7.3% did not meet the requirements. "For the EU, this level is extremely serious," said Tran Ngoc Quan. "The Vietnam Trade Office in Belgium and the EU are closely coordinating with the Directorate General for Fisheries and the Directorate General for Health and Consumers to continue monitoring and explaining violations," said Mr. Tran Ngoc Quan.

Notably, according to Mr. Tran Ngoc Quan, seafood products entering the EU are all from enterprises that have been granted export codes. These enterprises are inspected and have food safety certificates from the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. That means that Vietnamese authorities have implemented a number of food safety control measures but have not yet met the quality requirements of the EU.

"On the EU side, they have warned that if we do not improve, seafood products will face worse prospects in the future, even being restricted from exporting to the EU," said Mr. Quan.

Faced with these developments, representatives of the Vietnam Trade Office in Belgium and the EU requested the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers and localities to focus on guiding businesses to strictly implement requirements on product safety and quality to maintain the EU market.

It is known that Vietnam's billion-dollar seafood export items such as shrimp, pangasius and tuna all recorded a lack of optimism in the first months of 2023. The reason is that major markets such as the US, Europe and China all decreased demand. In the first two quarters of 2023, seafood export turnover to these markets decreased quite deeply, from 30 - 45%, the US market also decreased by 51%. By the end of September 2023, Vietnam's seafood exports to the EU decreased by 31.5% compared to the same period in 2022.

However, Deputy Secretary General of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers - Nguyen Hoai Nam commented that the seafood industry is gradually showing positive signs when the total industry decline is only negative 22% in the first 9 months of 2023 compared to the same period last year, while export growth in the first 6-7 months of 2023 is always above negative 30% and close to negative 40%.

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