CANBERRA: Many Argentine shrimp exporters are still skeptical on the opportunity to grow shrimp exports to Australia, considering long inspections and lack of clarity on which products are allowed into the market. However, Aussie importers are optimistic. A ban on all raw shrimp imports, introduced in January 2017 due to an outbreak of white spot disease was lifted last July. However, Argentine shrimp exporters, as well as other farmed shrimp packers in Central America, still see the Aussie market as a difficult target because of restrictions at the borders. Also, some details on products allowed into the Australian market are still partially unclear, sources at multiple large Argentine companies told Undercurrent News. Australian authorities “ask for special tests” and it seems that they only allow peeled and de-veined products to enter, a source at one large Argentine exporter said. The sanitary requirements are complicated; you have to pass an endless series of tests for each export lot, as I understand, and you can only send peeled shrimp, which in Argentina is very expensive to process,” the second source told Undercurrent, pointing out that, however, his firm is exporting large volumes of other fish to Australia. A source at a third large Argentine shrimp producer also stressed that details on what products can be imported still have to be clarified. I think it [the opening of the Australian market to Argentine imports] was something more of national marketing than a fact, because it was never forbidden. The issue was that Australia requires many analyses of yellow spot and yellow head syndrome and that meant that importers do not want to take the risk to pay until the sanitary service approves it; while the exporters did not want to ship without charging,” the third source noted. Argentine sources pointed out that other markets, such as Russia, US, Canada and China, where demand for head-off shrimp is rising, are more promising. Likewise, if Brazil’s market door will be opened, “prices will be very interesting and, being so close, this market will grow to infinity, as is the case with hake”, one of the sources added. I do not see much future in this [Australia] market,” one source at a fourth Argentine shrimp company said. Seafood trade into Australia, which had been halted by a ban, resumed after July 6 but it took several weeks or even months before some countries felt confident they could meet the revised conditions, one informed source in Australia told Undercurrent. There is no blanket restriction on the type of prawn [shrimp] products that can be imported providing they can meet the new conditions, which are more onerous for ‘high risk’ products such as raw meat. The inclusion of offshore PCR [polymerase chain reaction] testing prior to shipment, is an entirely new step/condition. Others conditions have been enhanced, as have seals intact inspections,” the source said. The source added that “most countries have resumed trade now, but perhaps not at pre-suspension level”. However, the nature of the imports has certainly changed, with an apparent large increase in the proportion of cooked prawn products,” he said. The focus has now switched to the revision of the current shrimp Import Risk Analysis which is now underway and will run through 2018.
