Nguyen Van Kich, Director of Hau Giang-based Cafatex, a seacooking company,
said that tra exports to the EU market must have HACCP (Hazard Analysis and
Critical Control Points) certificate, while Japan and the US do not require
this.



According to Jose Villalon, representative from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
in the US; tra fish products have to bear 23 different standards relating to the
farming process, while there is no “golden standard” which can be applied by all
importers. As a result, Vietnamese exporters have got confused with too many
standards, while they have to spend much money to get certificates for different
standards.



Nguyen Viet Thang, Chair of Vinafish, said on Tien phong that the
existence of too many kinds of certificates has put a hard pressure on farmers.
Besides the requirements set up by import countries, retail chains and importers
also set up requirements themselves. They ask Vietnamese farmers and exporters
to follow the standards and only accept to import the products if exporters can
show the certificates.



It is really a problem for farmers, because when beginning farming,
farmers do not know to whom they will sell the fish, therefore, they do not know
which standards to follow.



Some seafood experts have warned that it is a “trick” by some
non-government organizations which try to create scandals and then impose new
standards on exporters. After Vietnam’s tra fish was put into the red list in
the consumer guide in Europe, some countries including the Netherlands and
Germany have required Vietnam’s tra fish exports to show ASC certificate
(Aquaculture Stewardship Council).



Peter Hamaker, Director of Mayonna Company in the Netherlands, said that
tra fish is just the victim of mass media and some non-government organizations
in some European countries.



The same thing once occurred with farmed eels in the country. Farmed eels
sourced from the country were dominating the market of many European countries,
when baseless rumor about the unsafe products, which led to the sharp falls of
the eel exports.



Nguyen Ngoc Hai, Chair of the Thoi An Tra Fish Cooperative in Can Tho,
said that it is inevitable to apply standards in aquaculture and processing.
However, he said that in order to build up a fish pond which can meet Global Gap
standards; one would need billions of dong. Therefore, farmers would not be able
to follow Global Gap without the support of enterprises.



According to Peter Hamaker, as for caught seafood, western consumers
believe in MSC certificate, while as for farmed seafood, they believe in ASC. He
has suggested that Vietnam needs to take initiative in meeting the requirements
of the US market and the EU, and those Vietnamese farmers should go from Global
Gap to ASC.



He said that this is the key to be able to meet the demands of consumers
in the two markets, while this could be seen as massage to consumers about the
safe and environment friendly aquaculture process.



Dan Viet has quoted its sources as saying that even European importers
have expressed their worry about the boom of certificates. There are 23
different kinds of certificates.



Nguyen Tu Cuong from Vinafish said on Dan Viet, that he is not sure about
the confirmation of the representative from WWF, that if Vietnam has ASC
certificate, it will be able to raise the sale prices and the sales in European
market.



According to Cuong, in 2004, an organization from Europe built a
sustainable development certification system for Vietnam, affirming that the
export volume and the export price would increase by 30 and 20 percent. But this
has not come true.



C. V