Vietnamese exporters attend the seminar in HCM City (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Unofficial exports over the border to China willface technical barriers since the two nations have agreed to limit them andincrease official exports, heard a recent seminar in Ho Chi Minh City.
“Vietnamese agricultural exports to China are unsustainable because they aremostly dependent on unofficial exports on a small scale and without legalcontracts between sellers and buyers,” Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, deputy head of theinternational affairs sub-department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade’strade promotion department told the March 1 seminar on updating market informationand developing official agricultural export (fruits and grocery) to China.
“Chinese importers are tightening quality norms and demanding origintraceability.”
The two nations had agreed Vietnam would export eight kinds of fruits to China- dragon fruit, watermelon, litchi, longan, mango, banana, rambutan, andjackfruit – she said.
“Vietnam is negotiating to export custard apple, pomelo, mangosteen, and rose appleto China. Besides, coffee should be brought into their supermarket systeminstead of exporting to Chinese provinces close to Vietnam by road.
“E-commerce websites like Alibaba and Taobao are good places for Vietnameseexporters to advertise themselves.”
Shi Xinbiao, a Chinese trade expert and importer, spoke about his country’slatest policies on fruit and vegetable imports.
“This year Chinese customs has stepped up inspection of Vietnamese agriculturalproducts by requiring approval certificates and origin traceability.
“Vietnam should set up facilities to preserve farm produce and apply newtechnology in cultivation, to improve quality and yields and for tracing oforigin.
“China is an open and lucrative market for Vietnamese exporters. Meeting itsimport criteria will help Vietnam capture a larger market share.”
China is the biggest importer of agricultural products, accounting for 10 percentof global imports, and its imports are growing at 8.8 percent annually. Itaccounted for 70 percent of Vietnam’s agricultural exports last year.
Last year, Vietnam exported 8.64 billion USD worth of agricultural products toChina and imported 2.47 billion USD worth. – VNS/VNA
VNA
