The government made the comment in response to MP Joaquin Garcia Diez’s queries regarding the import of Vietnamese catfish, Spain’s Servimedia news agency reported. The MP expressed concern that a massive import of Vietnamese catfish could do harm to domestic production.

However, the Spanish government affirmed that it has found no signs of violations of food safety regulations in Vietnamese products and that there is no point in issuing a ban on the import.

It also said that European importers made the same finding regarding the import of Vietnamese Basa and Tra fish. The volume of Tra and Basa fish exports to Europe has increased by 60 percent since 2004.

Spain is Vietnam’s largest Tra and Basa fish importer amongst European Union member countries, with import volume having increased considerably from 5,785 tonnes in 2004 to 32,600 tonnes in 2007. In the first seven months of last year, 27,500 tonnes of the fish were shipped to the EU member country.  

In late January 2009, the Spanish Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs already announced that Vietnamese catfish meet food safety regulations set by the European Union.