Vietnamese firms selling pangasius to the US will not face any sudden halts on exports now that the Sept. 2 deadline for equivalency to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) standards has passed.
During the Vietfish 2017 show in Ho Chi Minh, two executives with major pangasius exporters told Undercurrent News that sales were clear to continue until March 1 at the earliest. There are several layers of checks Vietnam has to go through, including both the country and then individual companies meeting US Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) standards.
The USDA's ruling on equivalence for siluriformes stated that countries seeking to continue exporting fish and fish products to the US were required to submit their documentation showing equivalence by Sept. 1, 2017.
The USDA will now review the self-reporting tool (SRT) and other documentation submitted by countries, and will look to schedule audits at the country-level by March 1.
"The SRT was submitted by Sept. 1," said one source, an executive with a pangasius exporter. "We have all submitted SRT at country level and at the company level. This period until March is for USDA to review all documents, but sales can continue in this period."
"There is a lot of back and forth in that period, but companies are still permitted to sell in the USA between now and March, as there is no determination from USDA until after the audit."
The responsibility for meeting equivalency to USDA standards falls across four government departments in Vietnam, and they are having a hard time agreeing over whose office will do what, said this executive.
"Then, obviously, FSIS don't just come when you call them -- they have however many checks to be doing on foods globally destined for the US. I think we've found the wheels of government just don't turn so quickly [in relation to the scheduled September deadline]."
In the meantime, 100% of Vietnamese siluriformes exports will be inspected at the US border, as of Aug. 2.
Undercurrent previously heard from several sources that these checks -- which have been transferred from the Food and Drug Administration to the USDA on the US side -- have added to import costs and are also causing inventories to build up at the border.
Don Kelley, procurement manager with US importer Western Edge Seafood, said in August 2017 that the “current costs of new products do support a market price of $2.05-$2.15/lb”.
This higher level is more related to USDA-related expenses rather than raw material cost, he suggested. “This higher market may find support as there is lower supply in the marketplace due to USDA actions.”
Unpleasant surprise
Interviews at Vietfish came just days before the surprise result of the latest US Department of Commerce period of review -- number 13 -- preliminary results of which have most exporters facing the country-wide anti-dumping duty rate of $2.39 per kilogram.
If confirmed by March 2018, this means a steep hike in tariffs for several companies. The Vietnamese industry remains hopeful it can reverse the preliminary findings, though.
Source: Undercurrentnews
Key words: Vietnam, US, pangasius, sales, free to continue,at least, March 2018
