Processing of shrimp for export at the Minh Phu Seafood JSC (Photo: VNA)“This year, MARD has predicted that the export turnover of agricultural, forestand fishery products to reach over 44 billion USD, exceeding its initial targetof 42 billion USD," said Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Minister of Agricultureand Rural Development.
According to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Le Minh Hoan,there will be many export opportunities for local agricultural products in thefourth quarter of 2021, especially over Christmas and New Year of 2022 and theLunar New Year.
The European market will be a big destination for Vietnamese agriculturalproducts and strong trade with the Thai, South American, African markets isexpected to continue, he said.
"I hope that the Government’s existing policies, along with theinitiatives of localities, will encourage exporting enterprises to restoretheir trading activities," Hoan said.
To seize opportunities to recovery and increase exports of agricultural,forestry and fishery products by this year-end, MARD will coordinate withministries and sectors to implement trade promotion programmes that focus onopening new export markets, according to Nguyen Quoc Toan, Director of theDepartment of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development.
They will also provide businesses with market information and regulations ongoods that are traded between Vietnam and China, and quotas for localagricultural products under the EVFTA and UKVFTA agreements.
This year exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products have facedmany challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the fourthoutbreak that began in late April led to disruption across the economy,impacting farm produce supply chains, production and export activitiesnationwide, according to MARD.
The agriculture industry has maintained export growth for many products in bothquantity and value. In the first ten months of this year, the export value ofagricultural, forestry and fishery products was estimated at 38.8 billion USD,up 13.1 percent over the same period in 2020, the ministry said.
Nudging closer to the target of 44 billion USD in export value for this wholeyear, the sector’s export turnover reached at least 5.2 billion USD in the lasttwo months, according to the ministry.
This is a great success in the context of the complicated development of thepandemic that has disrupted the supply chains of agricultural raw products,directly affecting the processing and export of agricultural, forestry andaquatic products.
The disruption in the supply chain of agricultural products is due to localitiesimplementing the Government’s regulations on prevention and control of theCOVID-19 in different ways, according to Tien.
He also believes that the Government's goal of recovering economic developmentmay face some difficulties if the pandemic continues to reemerge in newlocalities.
Agricultural development faces challenges from other areas too; crop andanimals diseases, climate change, natural disasters, drought and saltwaterintrusion also continue to negatively affect production.
Other problems include the slow recovery of production chains, a lack of labourand the congestion in transporting agricultural, forestry and fishery products.Many processing enterprises are also short of the capital needed to continueproduction and business. Others have not yet met the material conditions tomaintain production.
Higher freight along some routes and an increase in the price of animal feedand fertiliser have also created more difficulties for enterprises.
MARD plans to help restore agricultural development through the Governmentpolicies that were issued after the COVID-19 outbreak. MARD and the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade are coordinating to reduce inventories of agriculturalproducts and ensure supply for the export agricultural products. They will alsohave solutions to reduce the price of input materials that have increasedrecently.
“The higher input price in Vietnam is caused by an increase in prices aroundthe world, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Agricultural input in the countrydepends on imports, which accounts for 70-80 percent of demand. If imports areinterrupted due to transportation difficulties, this will lead to a shortage ofinput material on the domestic market,” Tien remarked.
The two ministries have recommended that the Government produce policies thatencourage the domestic production of input materials and introduce a mechanismthat cuts the volume of export commodities that could be used for raw materialproduction in the future.
It has also been suggested that farmers be more conservative with their inputmaterials usage, as often they use more input materials than is needed. Iffarmers can adapt to using only what they need, it could reduce usage by up to40 percent.
In addition, to restore supply chains, the agriculture sector has proposed thatthe Ministry of Health increase the number of vaccines available to industryworkers, as farming products must be transported across many regions.
According to Tien: “In the future, Vietnam’s agriculture sector must ensureseeds and input material as well diversifying markets and products. The sectoralso needs to build raw material areas and supply chains based on enterprisesand cooperatives, meeting standards of export markets."
Dinh Cao Khue, Chairman of the Dong Giao Foodstuff Export Joint Stock Company(DOVECO), an enterprise that exports agricultural products and fruits to 55countries, said that his company has maintained exports during the fourthoutbreak of COVID-19.
“We have faced many difficulties, especially in purchasing and transporting rawmaterials as many localities have applied social distancing measures to controlthe pandemic, according to Directive 16,” said Khue.
At the same time, the cost of exporting to the US and European marketscontinues to rise compared to before the pandemic, which is creatingfinancial pressure on exporting enterprises.
Despite this, Nguyen Dinh Tung, General Director of Vina T&T Group, arguesthat: “the last months of the year are an opportunity for fruit export, asfruit demand is highest in those months for festivals at the end of the yearand the early next year. We hope to increase the volume of exports because ofincreasing orders from partners.”
Ngo Tuong Vy, Deputy Director of Chánh Thu Fruit Import-Export Co, Ltd, saidthat to increase capacity to export key fruit products, her company willpurchase more mangoes, durian and jackfruit in Dong Thap. These are key exportproducts; mangoes for the US and Australia, jackfruit for China and durian forChina, Japan and Australia.
To help meet demand, Vy's company will support cooperatives in technicalconsulting, the building of raw material regions and the establishment ofproduction and supply chains to create a stable supply of exports, she said.
Nguyen Hai Nam, Chairman of the Vietnam Pepper Association, said the pepperindustry has quickly restored production and business after the COVID-19outbreak. They expect to gain growth in both quantity and value of pepperexports this year due to convenience in transporting raw materials./.
VNA
