Australia lifts ban on Vietnamese raw prawns

The department “will be accepting permit applications for uncooked Australian wild-caught prawns exported to Vietnam for processing and re-imported into Australia from June 15, 2017,” it wrote in a statement released on its website recently. The department also said its Biosecurity Import Conditions database system has been updated to reflect the new requirements. In addition, import permit applications for Australian wild prawns processed in countries other than Vietnam “will be accepted once the competent authorities in these countries provide assurance that they meet Australia’s new import conditions.”

This has helped lift the temporary ban made by Australia in January on shrimp exports from Asian countries, including Vietnam, on worries about the white spot outbreak in Australia. In February, the department loosened the ban on dried prawns, shelf-stable prawn-based food products and other products caught from the exclusive economic zone of Australia as the risk of white spot virus outbreak was low on these products. In May, Vietnam’s ministries of Industry and Trade and Agriculture and Rural Development urged Australian agencies to consider lifting the ban on Vietnamese shrimp imports, reporting the damage to Vietnam’s shrimp exports to Australia. According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia, this is the seventh-largest prawn market for Vietnam, accounting for 3.6 percent of Vietnam’s total shrimp exports.

In 2016, Vietnam exported $US114.6 million worth of shrimp products to Australia, of which processed shrimp made up 78 percent of the total. In the past five years, Vietnam has been the biggest shrimp product supplier to Australia and demand for prawn products in the country is forecast to rise. In addition, Australia focuses on importing products from main suppliers, a major advantage for its top shrimp providers, including Vietnam.