Vietnamese businesses and experts in the fishing industry have warned about the adverse effect of increasing exports to China while missing out on major markets like the U.S., the EU and Japan, which will not accept the same products because they consider them substandard.

In October 2015, Vietnamese seafood exports to multiple foreign markets fell 15-60 percent compared with the same period in 2014, but the shipments to China rose nearly 19 percent year on year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Specifically, Vietnamese catfish exports to the neighboring country leapt by over 50 percent.

In the first 10 months of this year, seafood exports from Vietnam to China reached more than US$500 million, making it the third biggest import market for Vietnamese fishing products after the U.S. and Japan, the VASEP said.

But only about 10 percent of the exports to China were consumed by restaurants and other food services, while the rest were used for other purposes.

Truong Dinh Hoe, VASEP general secretary, told Phap Luat TPHCM (Ho Chi Minh City Law) newspaper that Vietnamese seafood was mainly exported to China unofficially, not through official import-export contracts, so the requirement on quality is much looser.

The more Vietnamese fishing products become dependent on the Chinese market, the bigger risk they will likely face if China shuts the door for them without notice, as has happened previously with Vietnamese agro-produce, Hoe told Phap Luat TPHCM.

A sudden shutdown in border trade will cause huge losses for Vietnamese business, he told the newspaper.

Tran Van Linh, general director of Thuan Phuoc Fisheries and Commerce JSC, told Phap Luat TPHCM that the increase may be due to a rise in demand for aquatic products locally in the context of Chinese firms boosting the import of raw materials from other countries, before processing and exporting under their own brands.

Vietnamese firms, whose products have been returned from strict markets like Japan, the U.S., and the EU because of excess antibiotic and chemical residues in their fish, have found that it is easier to ship to China, which has more relaxed regulations.

This has meant they have accelerated the shipment of their products to the neighboring country, Linh told Phap Luat TPHCM.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in 2014 there were 159 shipments found to violate food safety regulations and 68 shipments discovered in breach of the provisions for antibiotic residues when being inspected for food safety export certification.

The respective numbers in the first nine months of 2015 rose to 165 and 78 shipments, the ministry said.

According to the ministry, in the first nine months, 27 shipments of Vietnamese seafood to Japan were suspected of antibiotic contamination, compared with 21 cases in 2014.

At the same time, the total number of shipments that got warned for using banned chemicals or antibiotics was up by more than 3.5 times year on year, the ministry said.

The Japanese authorities have since adopted a stringent inspection regime for those substances, and will suspend the imports of Vietnamese products if the situation does not improve, the government body added.

In the U.S. market, 35 shipments of Vietnamese fishing products failed to meet antibiotic requirements, a six-fold increase compared to 2014.

Australia has also announced it would stop importing Vietnamese seafood if the rate of violations in antibiotic residue increases, without stating specific numbers, the ministry said.

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