Starting in 2026, many leading retail chains in the EU and the UK will require warm-water shrimp to be completely stunned, most commonly through electrical methods, prior to ice immersion, replacing the traditional cold-shock approach, reported VASEP. These evolving animal welfare requirements are becoming a new entry barrier that exporters must meet to gain access to the EU market.

The new requirement has already been incorporated into the procurement policies of leading retailers such as Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, and Waitrose, and is directly tied to the conditions for retaining approved supplier status.

Unlike previous trade barriers, this policy cannot be addressed through documentation or certification alone. Instead, exporters must invest in new harvesting and processing technologies, modify operating procedures, and exercise tighter control over the transport of live shrimp. The cost of investing in electrical stunning production lines is substantial, particularly as profit margins in the shrimp industry continue to narrow.

From a competitive perspective, VASEP said, animal welfare standards could indirectly favour countries with large-scale, low-cost production models and higher certification coverage. Ecuador, which currently holds a dominant share of the EU shrimp market, has a significantly higher proportion of shrimp certified under sustainability schemes such as ASC, and benefits from vertically integrated production chains that make it easier to adopt new technologies.

India is also rapidly expanding its presence in the EU, leveraging scale and cost advantages as other major markets, especially the United States, become more volatile.

According to VASEP, animal welfare is no longer merely a branding or corporate social responsibility issue, but is increasingly becoming a prerequisite for market access in the EU. For Vietnam’s shrimp industry, the challenge lies not only in the investment costs, but also in preventing the transition from widening the gap between large exporters and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for a substantial share of the country’s shrimp exports.

VASEP stressed that early development of domestic technical guidelines and standards, alongside financial mechanisms to support technology upgrades, will be critical to ensure Vietnam’s shrimp sector can adapt to the tightening requirements without losing competitiveness in the EU market.

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