Chinese port to suspend frozen seafood from 11 Asian countries

Zhanjiang, a port in China’s Guangdong Province, will temporarily stop receiving cargoes of frozen seafood from Vietnam and 10 other Asian countries due to loading capacity.

The decision by Zhanjiang Port Zhanjiang Port Group Co., Ltd will be applied to shipments from Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Mongolia from 20 June to 15 July, the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (Nafiqad) under Vietnam’s Agriculture Ministry has learnt from Vietnamese trade representatives in Beijing, according to newspaper Nong nghiep Vietnam.

In a letter sent to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) and Vietnamese seafood companies on 11 June, Nafiqad said the suspension us due to the port’s cargo-loading capacity, which has been affected by heightened health and safety measures put in place in response to a COVID-19 outbreak in Guangdong. The decision was made after Zhanjiang Port Zhanjiang Port Group held a meeting with Chinese companies and associations on 3 June.

Nafiqad called for Vietnamese companies to keep in touch with their Chinese partners for situational updates.

In a separate move, China’s General Administration of Customs has also suspended imports of frozen seafood from six Indian exporters due to alleged detection of the coronavirus on their packaging. Their cargoes will be suspended for a week, India Today reported 11 June.

Guangdong officials are trying to contain the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant, which was first found in India. Nine new cases were confirmed on 11 June, bringing the total new cases in the province to 128, South China Morning Post reported on 11 June.

Guangdong Health Commission Deputy Head Xu Qingfeng told a press briefing on 11 June that new cases have only been detected in areas currently under lockdown, but he did not rule out the possibility of discovering more cases.

The province has administered around 42 million tests during its ongoing efforts to contain the outbreak.

Photo courtesy of Weiming Xie/Shutterstock