Seafood Trade Matters: EXDOC outage; EU verification sampling; SafeFish Communique

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DAFF: EXDOC outage Sunday 21 January

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) has notified all export documentation (EXDOC) system users of an expected system maintenance and associated outage from 8:00 pm – 11:59 pm (AEST) Sunday 21 January 2024. Read the full notice on the DAFF website here. 

EU: Recommencement of the verification sampling program

DAFF has advised export registered seafood manufacturing establishments that the European Union (EU) requires the recommencement of the verification sampling program. Full Industry Advice Notice here. 

SafeFish Communique now available

SafeFish has issued a Communique from the meeting held on November 27th 2023. Read the full document here.

Indonesia: E-certification now available

DAFF has advised industry on the availability of electronic export health certificates to export molluscs by airfreight to Indonesia. 

From 17 January 2024, the manual health certificate FXIN04 used for the export of live aquaculture molluscs to Indonesia will be replaced and be made available on the department’s Export Documentation System (EXDOC). Read the full advice on the DAFF website here. 

Saudi Arabia: New listing applications delayed

DAFF has been informed that the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) have not been progressing new establishment listing applications. Further discussions with SFDA are required to resolve issues on model export health certificates and on the provision of information on newly listed establishments. Read the full notice on the DAFF website here. 

Japan: Seafood trade disruption update

Asahi Shimbun reported in December “the Japanese and Chinese governments plan to hold discussions at an expert level early next year regarding treated radioactive wastewater being discharged into the ocean”. Read the story here. 

The likelihood of restoring access for Japanese seafood into China in the near term is low. The Japanese government is supporting its exporters to reroute supply chains and diversify markets away from China. 

However, the government in Seoul reacted less-than-enthusiastically to Tokyo’s plans to increase scallop exports to South Korea.

PM Kishida promoted Hokkaido scallops at the ASEAN leaders meeting dinner event last month in an effort to increase exports to the Southeast Asia region. 

Vietnam has now begun imports of Japanese scallops for processing and re-export to the USA. 

Brazil is another target for increased seafood exports: “At Sunday's event, attended by around 100 people in the restaurant, food distribution and related industries, Japanese cuisine incorporating scallops from Hokkaido and yellowtail from Ehime Prefecture were served. This is the first time that Brazil has imported scallops directly from Japan.” Read more here.

Russia: Seafood sanctions update

Russian-originating seafood processed for re-export in third countries is now covered by Washington’s sanctions related to the Ukraine war. Read the Executive Order here. 

A number of Chinese processors are set to be affected by the expanded measures. Read more from context from Seafoodsource.com here. 

TradexFoods covers the impact on seafood trade in its latest video here. 

Russia Today reports that fish exports from the country’s far Eastern region are soaring, despite the sanctions which have mostly prohibited Russian seafood from entering major Western markets like the USA and EU. Read more here. 

Russia’s fisheries production also grew healthily in 2023, according to SeafoodSource.com: “Reflecting on the year as a whole, Russian Federal Fisheries Agency Head Ilya Shestakov said that the country had a record year in terms of catch.” Read more here.  

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The Seafood Trade Advisory Group (STAG) is jointly funded by the Australian government and the fishing industry. We receive funds from the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC).which is a statutory authority within the portfolio of the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Water and the Environment. 

 Any information provided in this STAG publication is general in nature. Before acting on any information provided, you should consider its appropriateness to your individual circumstances and business objectives.