China Set to Ban Indian Seafood from June 1 Close.

KOLKATA/AHMEDABAD: Seafood exporters from Gujarat and Maharashtra are at a loss as China has decided to stop imports of Indian seafood on quality grounds from June 1. India has been excluded from the list of countries that have cleared China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine ( AQSIQ) certification norms for the export of aquatic products. Seafood exporters have decided to move the commerce as well as agricultural ministries on the issue.

Rajarshi Banerjee, director of Razban Seafood, said: "It is a matter of concern and we will shortly take it up with the ministry. We have been barred to export to China on quality grounds." China had published a notice on the implementation of administrative measures of inspection, quarantine and supervision on the entry and exit of aquatic products in May 2011. Even as India did not figure in the list of approved countries published in October, it is said to have not acted on it.

China had approved 27 countries that conformed to conditions. Of these, seven - Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan, Japan, Philippines, Myanmar and South Korea - are from the Asian region. Ten nations from Europe, seven from the American continent and Australia and New Zealand also figure in the list of approved countries. TR Patnaik, vice president of Seafood Exporters Association of India, said: "China's decision will affect seafood exporters of Gujarat and Maharashtra the most. Seafood exporters from eastern India will not take much hit as they do not cultivate the kind of fish that are imported to China."

With the country's largest coastline of 1,600 km and a large continental shelf, Gujarat, the largest exporter of fish in both quantity and value from India, has seen an increase in demand from China. "The association will be taking the matter to the agriculture minister and we expect the Indian government to bring the issue to Chinese government officials," said Seafood Exporters Association of India's Gujarat unit president Kishanbhai Fofandi who added that demand from China -- which is a big market of cheap ribbon fish and croaker -- has increased. Chinese traders have been paying better prices for high-valued items like silver pomfret, cuttle fish compared to the European buyers.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com