Exports of agricultural and aquatic products in the first five months ofthe year were 15.49 billion USD, down by 4.1 percentcompared with the same period last year because of the negativeimpacts of COVID-19 on Vietnam’s key export markets such as China, the US,Japan and EU.
In the first months of the year, Vietnam’s agriculture sector facedother challenges in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, including tradetensions and worse climate change.
The recently signed Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for theTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement(EVFTA) are expected to help the country increase its agricultural andfisheries output. However, with the technical barriers and strict food safetyand hygiene standards, Vietnam’s agricultural production face many challengesbecause it has still been done mostly on a small scale.
However, with commitments under these FTAs, import tariffs will bereduced or eliminated in various markets, creating favourable conditions for Vietnam’sagricultural exports, said Mai Xuan Thanh, deputy director-General of theVietnam General Department of Customs.
The EU market is very demanding, which requires products to be done incompliance with high standards to protect consumers.
The EU is the largest importer of Vietnamese agricultural products as comparedwith other major markets like the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Japan.Its consumers value high-quality products with special characteristics such asorganic, fair trade and geographical indications, experts said.
To expand to new markets, Vietnamese export products should meet goodagricultural practice (GAP) standards such as VietGAP and Global GAP in orderto meet the market demand and improve farmers’ incomes.
In addition, businesses need to improve the added value of goods by applyingtechnology in processing and preserving products, experts said./.