Processing Tra fish for export (Source: VNA)HCM City (VNS/VNA) - WithVietnam’s main agro-forestry-fishery export markets after China such as the USand Europe being hit by the new coronavirus-caused acute respiratory disease (COVID-19),Vietnamese exporters are suffering.
Nguyen Dinh Tung, Chairman andCEO of Vina T&T Group, which exports fresh fruits to several demandingmarkets, said fruit exports by air to the US and EU were down 70-80 percentsince many airlines had stopped flights.
"Shipments by sea arerelatively stable but customs clearance in importing countries is expected tobe prolonged because workers and officials are absent from work due to thepandemic, which could affect the goods quality.
“Therefore, at least in thenext one month, vegetable and fruit exports to these markets will dropsharply."
After that the export situationwould depend entirely on how the countries control the pandemic, he said.
His company now exports onlythree items, coconut, longan and durian, because they last long, and temporarystops exporting other fruits.
Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretaryof the Vietnam Fruits and Vegetable Association, said most fruits andvegetables were exported in fresh form and by air.
The sector must improve storageand packaging technologies to enable the products to last over 30 days so thatthey could be shipped to Europe and the US by sea, he added.
Truong Dinh Hoe, General Secretaryof the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said themain seafood export markets such as China, the US, the EU, Japan, and the Republicof Korea had all been hit by COVID-19.
In the first two months of theyear seafood exports were worth nearly 935 million USD, down 15.9 percent fromthe same period in 2019, with exports to China down by 46.8 percent to 80million USD, and to the EU by 17.4 percent to 106 million USD and to theRepublic of Korea by 16 percent to 90 million USD.
According to VASEP, shrimpexporters expect the China market to recover in April and will focus onshipping by sea.
Pangasius exports to China areexpected to recover by 70 percent in May and fully recover in June.
Exporters will restrict exportsto China through intermediaries and outsourcing to avoid oversupply.
In the case of non-essentialitems such as wood and wood products, demand could slump at a time like this.According to the Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association (VIFOREST),exports of timber and timber products will plummet in the next three months,especially to the country’s five key export markets that are severely affectedby the pandemic.
The five are the US, EU, China,Japan and the Republic of Korea, which buy nearly 90 percent of the country’stotal exports.
Importers in these markets haveinformed suppliers in Vietnam they would delay or stop buying or defer payment.
According to insiders,agricultural exports in the first two months of the year were estimated at 5.34billion USD, down 2.8 percent year-on-year.
If the Government and relatedministries did not provide timely support, the sector’s export prospects werevery gloomy, they said./.
VNA
