Alan Pham | Vietnam Seafood Sourcing Insights A sourcing consultant's notes on Vietnam's seafood market
For live seafood, China currently requires management across the entire production chain, from farming/harvesting to collection, transportation, packaging, and export consumption.
According to statistics from the Department of Quality Management, Processing, and Market Development (NAFIQPM), as of the end of March 2024, Vietnam has exported 1,517 shipments of live seafood to China, with no shipments being warned for chemical and antibiotic residues.
In March 2024, according to the General Department of Customs, the export value of Vietnam’s seafood to this market reached $93.5 million, an increase of 15.09% compared to the previous month. Cumulative export value in the first three months of the year was $271.7 million, up 13.98% from the same period in 2023.
For live seafood, China currently requires management across the production chain, from farming/harvesting to collection, transportation, packaging, and export consumption. The General Administration of Customs of China is currently soliciting comments on the draft protocol for live seafood exported from Vietnam to this market. Accordingly, China requires all participants in this process to have codes, farming areas, control and traceability capabilities… China also requires packaging facilities to be registered and included in the list permitted to export to China.
Specific Requirements of China for Live Seafood Exports
The exported products must be among the 48 species of live aquatic animals recognized by China; farming facilities must be inspected and certified for food safety/hygiene by local aquaculture/veterinary authorities, assigned codes, and monitored for diseases during farming (live black tiger shrimp, live whiteleg shrimp).
NAFIQPM appraises the food safety conditions of packaging facilities exporting live seafood and sends a proposal with the facility’s registration dossier to the Animal and Plant Quarantine Supervision (GACC). GACC updates the list of approved facilities on its website.
For spiny lobsters, since February 1, 2021, China has classified them as endangered group 2. In May 2023, China amended the Wildlife Protection Law, which prohibits the capture of animals listed as endangered in 2021. Consequently, China prohibits the capture, use, and trade of wild-caught spiny lobsters. China’s method of identifying farmed spiny lobsters involves ensuring they are not directly caught, must go through a farming process, and must be second-generation (F2); wild-caught fry are also considered wild-caught.
Chinese importers who wish to import spiny lobsters must obtain a permit from the Fisheries Bureau – Ministry of Agriculture of China. The General Administration of Customs of China closely supervises the import of wild-caught spiny lobsters through its customs system at border gates.
Vietnamese packaging facilities for spiny lobsters must be on the registered list of live seafood exporters to China and follow the requirements for appraising and certifying live seafood shipments exported to this market as specified in Circular 48/2013/TT-BNNPTNT and 32/2022/TT-BNNPTNT.
Enterprises Must Build Linked Chains
According to NAFIQPM, the appraisal activities for issuing certificates for live seafood exports to China are currently facing some difficulties. Specifically, live seafood shipments to China are mainly under border trade, thus small businesses often do not maintain sufficient export evidence.
Verifying the origin of raw materials at farming areas requires a unified frequency and percentage of shipments to be verified/number of exported shipments. Information and data systems about farming facilities/areas are not yet established or updated nationwide.
Therefore, NAFIQPM proposes that enterprises establish linked chains (farmers/harvesters, representatives, businesses, implementation processes, clear responsibilities of each party); meanwhile, update the quality management program as per registration with NAFIQPM. Based on the enterprise registration database, NAFIQPM sends a document to local aquaculture management agencies to build and update, control according to the classification of managed entities, encourage the model of organizing groups, cooperatives; the establishment and sharing of common data need to be synchronized and unified across units (list of farming areas, farming facilities/codes of farming areas, area production, safe business commitment…) so that enterprises can comply with current Chinese regulations.
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About the author: Alan (Việt Phạm) is an independent seafood sourcing consultant based in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. Former Operations Manager at Espersen Vietnam (Danish seafood group, 8+ years) and graduate of Nha Trang Fisheries University. He sources specialty aquatic products for buyers in Japan, France, Hong Kong, China and Thailand.
vietpham8@outlook.com · viet.zone · linkedin.com/in/vietpham8
Independent Seafood Sourcing Consultant based in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. Former Operations Manager at Espersen Vietnam (Danish seafood group, 8+ years) and graduate of Nha Trang Fisheries University. I source specialty aquatic products for buyers in Japan, France, Hong Kong, China and Thailand — as a disclosed agent with full commission transparency.
