| Bangladesh's frozen food exporters have decided to withdraw their voluntary suspension of fresh water prawn exports to Europe from the last week of November next.
This was disclosed at a seminar on 'Shrimp export from Bangladesh: prospects and challenges' at a city hotel yesterday. Four organisations, including the Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association and the Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation, jointly organised the seminar in collaboration with the ministry of commerce and the ministry of fisheries.
The seminar was told that, with the introduction of antibiotic testing in 2004, Bangladesh received a significant number of rejections from the US and the EU and Japan due to nitrofuran, an antibiotic that is used to inhibit bacterial growth in food animal, and other contamination found in Bangladeshi shrimps.
The ministry of fisheries and livestock and the department of food meticulously attempted to address this issue by banning nitrofuran use in 2008 but more rejections occurred in 2009, which could have resulted in the blacklisting of Bangladesh shrimp products in Europe, it added.
Instead, there was a remarkable response by the Bangladeshi shrimp industry, which decided to impose a voluntary suspension on one kind of freshwater prawn exports to the EU market in order to evaluate and address this issue. But the decision created distress to the exporters and buyers of Bangladeshi frozen foods.
The overall industry earning was reduced to 13 per cent (US $469 million) this year (2008-2009) due to the voluntary export ban and global recession and some major environmental disasters like cyclone and Sidr.
Shrimp is the second largest foreign exchange earner after RMG.
'We hope that by the end of the self-imposed ban, Bangladeshi frozen food exporters will earn more foreign currency and the government is ready to extend all kinds of cooperation, including setting up a high standard testing lab', said commerce minister Faruk Khan while speaking at the inaugural function of the seminar as the chief guest.
However, the minister warned the shrimp industry that the government would not compromise on environmental distraction. 'Environment and development have a natural clash, we have to overcome it for our great interest', Faruk added.
Among others, secretary, ministry of commerce Feroz Ahmed, ambassador of the European Commission Stefan Frowein, Ambassador of the United States of America James F. Moriarty, President of Global Aquaculture Alliance Dr. George Chamberlain, DG of the Department of Fisheries Rafiqul Islam, Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation Chairman Syed Mahmudul Huq and President Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association Musa Mia addressed the seminar while Dr. Mahmudul Karim, Technical Adviser, national working committee gave a presentation on the overall shrimp sector.
US Ambassador James F. Moriarty said that last year American consumers bought half of the shrimp production of Bangladesh, worth more than $100 million.
He said in order to expand markets for Bangladesh's shrimp exports, producers here must adhere to international standards, particularly with regard to health, environment and labour standards. As the temporary suspension of trade with Europe illustrated, Bangladesh shrimp export must be safe and of a high quality. Consumers in the US and Europe also pay attention to the condition of workers who harvest and process products like shrimp, he added.
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