Many Taiwanese seafood exporters are facing new difficulties accessing the mainland China market, after reportedly failing to provide information necessary to successfully register in the CIFER system.
The complications are in addition to Beijing’s restrictions on imports of grouper, horse mackerel, and hairtail from Taiwan, which were introduced in August, and reportedly accounted for 30% of Taiwan’s seafood export sales. Read more from Taipei Times here
According to Taiwan News, “China has rejected all but one of the applications of over 100 businesses that submitted supplementary paperwork for export permissions. The main products barred this time around are squid, Pacific saury, and East Asian fourfinger threadfin.” Read more here.
Chinese officials have downplayed the development: “The (Chinese government) spokesperson said the Taiwan authorities’ remarks about a ban without warning are just hype. Companies that have not offered complete registration information fail to meet the requirements of the mainland, and this is just normal supervision for the sake of food security”. Read more on the Global Timeshere.
According to Taiwanese news service New Tang Dynasty, exporters and officials are accelerating export diversification plans to offset the risk of heavy reliance on the China seafood market. Read more here.
STAG understands Taiwanese enterprises had been required to comply with the new system earlier than other suppliers, including Australia.
Any Australian seafood export establishment that is unsure of the progression of their applications (either modification or extension) in the CIFER system is encouraged to contact the department via exportlisting@agriculture.gov.au to ensure no steps have been missed and all required information has been provided. Any establishment that has had a modification application approved is strongly encouraged to submit their extension application as soon as possible. STAG and SIA are monitoring this issue closely.
Image: Reuters: Dado Ruvic
