The National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (Nafiqad) said that hematopoietic and epithelial cell necrosis virus in Vietnamese tiger prawns had been found during random samples. As the percentage of samples was so high, Chinese authorities have announced a temporary ban on raw tiger prawn imports from Vietnam.
However, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said that the ban will not affect Vietnamese shrimp production and export.
VASEP general secretary Truong Dinh Hoe said, "The current problem of Vietnamese shrimp is infant death syndrome (hepatopancreas necrosis disease), so China is afraid, but this disease is not only found in Vietnam, but also in China, India and Thailand.'
The relevant agencies in Vietnam and China were working to identify the cause of the virus infection.
So far, raw shrimp has been exported by only five Vietnamese firms. These companies have been asked to declare where they bought raw tiger prawns so that Nafiqad can collect samples and supervise diseases in order to quickly solve the problem.