South Korea’s Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries recently added frozen shrimp to a list of Vietnamese seafood items that must now be inspected.
Because of breaches in hygiene and food safety standards, the shrimp will be inspected starting 1 April.
However, the total value of Vietnam’s total seafood exports is expected to increase by five percent this year to around USD 7.5 billion (EUR 7.1 billion) despite having to overcome many potential hurdles, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Producers and Exporters (VASEP).
The value of Vietnam’s shrimp and pangasius exports rose by seven percent to USD 3.13 billion (EUR 2.95 billion) and USD 1.67 billion (EUR 1.58 billion), respectively.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries also said that South Korea's seafood imports rose for the third straight year in 2016. The value of imported seafood rose 5.2 percent to reach US 4.79 billion (EUR 4.53 billion) last year.
China exported the most seafood to South Korea last year: USD 1.23 billion (EUR 1.16 billion) worth, followed by Russia with USD 700.5 million (EUR 662 million) in exports, Vietnam with USD 621.2 million (EUR 587 million) and Norway with USD 300 million (EUR 283.5 million).
