Businesses advised to find potential partners to increase exports to UK

Shrimp processing for export (Photo: VNA)

London (VNA) - Vietnamese agricultural product exporters that wantto establish long-term business relationship with the UK need to haveappropriate strategies, and approach potential partners in order to takeadvantage of export opportunities to this important market – the second biggesteconomy in Europe, advised Nguyen Canh Cuong, Vietnamese Trade Counselor in theUK, at a recent consulting webinar.

The event was jointly organized by the Vietnam Trade Officein the UK and the Trade Promotion Agency under the Vietnamese Ministry ofIndustry and Trade with the participation of more than 100 delegates who arerepresentatives of agencies, organisations and enterprises exporting Vietnameseagricultural products.

According to Cuong, the UK - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement(UKVFTA), which became effect on May 1, along with  British businesses' need to find suppliersoutside the European Union after Brexit have created competitive advantages for manyVietnamese agricultural products in the UK marketas well as more room and opportunities for cooperation between the two sides.

In 2020, Vietnam exported more than 16,000 tonnes of cashewnuts worth over 92 million USD to the UK, accounting for 71 percent of themarket share. It also shipped 5,620 tonnes of pepper and 27,915 tonnes ofcoffee to the European country, accounting for nearly 40 percent and 5 percentof the market share.

Vietnamese dragon fruit (Photo: VNA)

However, other agricultural products such as rice and fruits are only availablein small supermarkets and have not gained access to big supermarkets in thecountry. This shows that there remains huge potential for Vietnamese farmproduce and vegetables to enter the UK market, Cuong stated.

Stressing the market’s high requirements on product quality,he suggested businesses adopt GlobalGAP standards as this is one of theprerequisites for Vietnamese agricultural products to be able to accesshigh-end markets.

Sharing the same view, Nguyen Huy, a representative ofEurofins Assurance Vietnam Group, and Doctor of Agriculture Han Van Hanh, apost-graduate at Glasgow University, said that GlobalGAP will help Vietnamesebusinesses develop sustainably and stand firm at foreign markets.

In addition, for potential products such as tea, spices and fruits,Vietnamese businesses need to win trust of British buyers before they cansell goods, they added./.

VNA