Vietnam's lobster aquaculture relies almost entirely on imports for the "seed" before rearing. For green lobster (tom hum xanh) 100% of the seed, and even for the high-priced spiny lobster (tom hum bong) about 90%, is brought in from abroad. The Vietnamese agriculture-and-environment paper dated 10 August 2026 explained the practical quarantine procedures for this imported seed, in line with Document No. 2625 (No. 2625/CNTY-KD&TYCD) issued on 16 July by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment's Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine. Behind the short provision - quarantine of up to 10 days, with two test targets, white spot disease and milky disease - a mechanism to protect the quality of exports to China and Japan at the entrance is built in. For Japanese buyers considering the procurement of Vietnamese seafood too, this upstream management has much to read.
A structure relying on imports for over 90% of seed turns quarantine into an "entrance fortress"
The artificial production technology for lobster from hatching to seed is not yet commercialized, and aquaculture in Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines alike has covered its seed by catching or importing wild juvenile shrimp (the puerulus stage). Wild seed collection within Vietnam stays at about 10% of spiny-lobster demand, with the rest brought in from Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Annual demand is put at roughly 80-90 million individuals.
In other words, most of the seed that enters Vietnam's aquaculture ponds is caught in seas whose water quality and disease history are unmanaged, and crosses the border. If a pathogen enters together here, it could wipe out everything, dragging in even the parent individuals being reared. The quarantine of imported seed becomes the first and last gate for keeping the source of infection out of the aquaculture site. So this procedure is less paperwork than close to the industry's lifeline.
Quarantine up to 10 days, testing for white spot disease and milky disease: the flow set by Document No. 2625
The flow set by Document No. 2625 and its basis, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment's Circular 03/2026/TT-BNNMT (Annex V), is broadly five stages. The importer first, before the cargo arrives, submits quarantine-registration documents to the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine through the National Single Window. Within 4 business days of receiving the documents, the department advises the method of implementation, taking into account the exporting country's disease situation, surveillance system and veterinary management.
Before the cargo reaches the border, a quarantine declaration is submitted to the border animal-quarantine body. The body confirms receipt within 1 business day (Form 03 TS) and notifies the date, time and place of inspection. A clinical inspection is carried out at the border or a consolidation point, the documents and cargo are matched, and individuals that are healthy and have documents in order are issued a transport certificate (Form 10 TS). Then quarantine begins, and the quarantine period for seed is up to 10 days from the start date. If necessary, it is extended after the reason is notified in writing. During quarantine, samples are taken and tested for white spot disease (WSD) and milky disease (LMD, tom hum's "milk-like disease"), and if the results meet the standards, an import quarantine certificate (Form 11 TS) is issued and domestic distribution is permitted.
| Stage | Responsible body / deadline | Form / basis |
|---|---|---|
| Quarantine registration | Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine / advised within 4 business days of receipt | National Single Window |
| Quarantine declaration | Border animal-quarantine body / receipt confirmed within 1 business day | Form 03 TS |
| Clinical inspection / transport | Border quarantine officer | Form 10 TS (transport certificate) |
| Quarantine / pathogen testing | Up to 10 days / white spot disease, milky disease | Circular 03/2026/TT-BNNMT, Annex V |
| Quarantine certificate | Issued upon meeting the standards | Form 11 TS |
About 85 million individuals in 2022, and forged certificates too: the real load that disease control bears
That this procedure is not a desktop matter is shown by the volume handled. Vietnam's quarantine authorities inspected about 85 million lobster seed in 2022 and inspected 43 million in the first half of 2023 alone. By calculation, nearly all of the annual demand of 80-90 million individuals passes through this 10-day gate.
The load is not only the sheer number. In May 2023, white spot disease was confirmed in several seed lots that came in from Malaysia and Singapore, and forged quarantine certificates were also found. As long as what is happening in the seas of the import source must be seen through at the border, the two-tier setup of clinical inspection and pathogen testing, and the authentication of certificates, cannot be cut. White spot disease is a representative infection that kills shrimp in a short time, and milky disease is a disease that has long afflicted Vietnam's farmed lobster. That the test items are narrowed to these two is also the flip side of a disease history in which the field has been hurt repeatedly.
Seed disease control governs the quality of exports to China and Japan
This is the heart of why upstream quarantine cannot be taken lightly. Vietnam's lobster aquaculture imports seed, raises it over six months to more than a year, and ships it live mainly to China and partly to other markets such as Japan. The shipped "product" is an individual that imported seed has grown fully, without losing to disease. If an infected lot cannot be rejected at the entrance, disease spreads during rearing, and both the quality of the surviving individuals and the output itself drop.
What buyers of live seafood demand first is that the animals be healthy. For live lobster bound for China and for stock aimed at Japan's premium tier alike, disease control at the production site is the foundation of trust. Quarantine that keeps white spot disease and milky disease from entering at the seed stage is the first rung of quality assurance, coming even before shipment inspection. The path by which shrimp and pangasius built their export value chains runs the same way: end prices and export volumes hinge on how well disease control upstream works. Quarantine of juvenile seed is unglamorous, but its quality ultimately feeds back into the price and volume of the exported goods.
What Japanese buyers should verify is the origin of the seed stock and the quarantine certificates
This structure carries practical implications for the Japanese side considering procurement of Vietnamese lobster and seafood. Before any story about origin or brand, verify one by one the provenance of the seed stock (which country it was imported from), the actual existence of quarantine certificates, and the disease history during rearing — the order of checks is exactly what Vietnam's quarantine lays out. The fact that forged certificates appeared in 2023 shows the need to look not only at whether documents exist but at their authenticity.
Shrimp farming in the Mekong Delta took decades to grow into an export industry, whereas lobster still cannot have its seed produced artificially and remains dependent on wild-caught seed and imports. That is precisely why the quality of quarantine at the stage before rearing holds the stability of the entire industry. How Japanese companies have brought Vietnamese seafood into their supply chains Even set against those cases, what separates success from failure is the precision with which upstream data is verified. For an industry that brings in 100% of its green lobster seed from outside, the 10-day isolation and two pathogen tests remain the last line that keeps disease out of the grow-out ponds.
Sources
- Nông nghiệp & Môi trường「Quy trình kiểm dịch tôm hùm giống nhập khẩu như thế nào?」（2026-08-10、Hồng Thắm）: https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/quy-trinh-kiem-dich-tom-hum-giong-nhap-khau-nhu-the-nao-d825241.html
- China-ASEAN Chamber of Agricultural Commerce「Vietnam, All green lobster seeds have been imported」: https://web.cacac.com.cn/english/article/12711
- Springer「Lobster Aquaculture Development in Vietnam and Indonesia」: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-32-9094-5_12
