Vietnamese workers process cashew nuts. (Photo: VNA)Dang Hoang Giang, Secretary General of the Vietnam CashewAssociation, said the SWIFT ban on Russia will surely expose Vietnamesebusinesses to a number of payment difficulties, especially when it comes toRussian partners, since SWIFT is currently a popular network for internationalpayments used by most banks in the world, including Vietnam, to safely conductpayments for export and import transactions.
However,apart from SWIFT, there are still other choices like IBAN, but its coverageis not as wide as SWIFT’s, he said, noting that businesses will find out newpayment methods and also need assistance from banks.
DoHa Nam, Chairman of the Intimex Group JSC, said such the export volumes of Vietnamese agricultural productsas cashew, peppercorn, and coffee to Russia are not much. His companyas well as many other firms do not often sell products directly to this marketbut via other European countries.
Russianimporters also usually purchase farm produce through Eastern Europeancountries, he said, forecasting that they are likely to switch to import viaChina and make payments by using other currencies in the time ahead.
Truong Dinh Hoe, Secretary General of the Vietnam Associationof Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), held that in the short term, theexclusion of Russia from SWIFT will not have much impact on the aquatic exportvalue but affect the psychology and trade transactions of the exporters to thismarket.
About 50 Vietnamese firms have been licensed toexport fishery products to Russia. Some have delivered goods to Russianpartners but yet to receive payments, and they are worrying about this problem,he pointed out.
Besides, the depreciation of the Russian ruble islikely to undermine this market’s import capacity, so many Vietnamesebusinesses that plan to boost shipments to Russia may have to make reconsideration,according to Hoe.
Some enterprises also expressed their concern about thesoaring fuel and fertiliser prices triggered by the Russia-Ukraine tensions.
Nam said if fuel prices keep rising, transportation expenseswill also continue growing, causing more difficulties for farm produceexporters.
Dao Huu Duy Anh, General Director of the Duc Giang ChemicalsGroup JSC, said Russia is currently a large exporter of NPK fertiliser toVietnam, so fertiliser prices may increase further due to the affected supply./.
VNA
