The door of EVFTA – Raising the level of Vietnamese agriculture, forestry and fishery
In order to help businesses understand the opportunities and challenges of the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam – the European Union (EU) – EVFTA, on July 24, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s branch
Vietnam Trade and Industry in Ho Chi Minh City (VCCI-HCM), Vietnam Association of Farms and Agribusinesses (VFAEA), jointly organized the Workshop “How to take advantage of the opportunities of EVFTA and improve the capacity of agricultural enterprises to participate in global value chains”
On August 1, when the EVFTA comes into effect, it will be a great opportunity for Vietnam to increase exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products to the EU market in the coming time.
Wings of EVFTA – Opportunities for agricultural, forestry and fishery products
Mr. Le Duy Minh, President of VFAEA said, when the EVFTA comes into effect, Vietnam’s AFF exports will reach a potential market with a population of more than 500 million people and a GDP of $15 trillion.
The EU is currently an important market for Vietnamese agriculture (ranking third after China and the United States, accounting for about 11.75% of Vietnam’s total agricultural, forestry and fishery exports in 2019). AFF export turnover to the EU is stable at nearly 5 billion USD/year, with an average surplus of 4 billion USD/year over the past 3 years (2017 – 2019). Thus, there is still room to grow the export of AFF products to serve the huge consumption demand of this market.
EVFTA will create a big boost for agricultural, forestry and fishery exports
Especially with products with strengths and competitive advantages such as seafood, vegetables, rice, coffee, pepper, wooden products.
Another great opportunity is to increase investment activities from the EU into Vietnam accompanied by technology transfer, and improve the level of labor management skills, which will help increase the output and quality of AFF, meet meet the strict standards of the EU market and participate deeply in the global value chain.
According to Dr. Dinh Viet Tu, Deputy Director of the Department of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development, EVFTA with a commitment to eliminate import taxes up to nearly 100% of the tariff and trade value that the two sides have committed, so the AFF industry exports Vietnamese exporters can access this potential market. Currently, imports of agricultural products account for about 8.4% of total EU imports.
Therefore, for Vietnamese businesses, the EVFTA creates a great opportunity to expand export markets with strategic products and has advantages thanks to commitments to cut tariffs. Diversify the supply of input materials for agricultural products. Opportunity to attract investment options from abroad. Better access to technology, improved management capacity, self-innovation ability of enterprises.
At the same time, improving product quality and meeting domestic demand thanks to Vietnam’s import tax reductions and compliance with regulations on food safety, animal and plant quarantine (SPS) measures. and technical barriers to trade (TBT).
Tight to quality, great hidden value
EVFTA is not only an opportunity but also a challenge, such as increasing competition with imported goods due to the gradual reduction of tariff barriers.
The regulations on traceability of importing countries are getting tighter and higher when reducing taxes. Vietnam will have to ensure compliance with other regulations on intellectual property, labor, information transparency, etc.
Enterprises also have to comply with the strict regulations of the importing countries, not only ensuring the quality of food hygiene and safety but also the standards of social responsibility, labor, gender … challenges in controlling commercial fraud.
With such strict standards, Vietnamese goods will have to constantly improve their quality to pass and meet. Accordingly, entering the EVFTA, being accepted by the EU market, also means that Vietnamese goods have a “certificate” of quality and reputation for reference to other markets. This “certificate” is also part of the overall brand.
At the above conference, Dr. Le Thanh Tung, Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production, specifically cited rice: In terms of quantity, the number of 80,000 tons of rice exported to the EU market, compared with 6.5 million tons of Vietnamese rice exported to the EU market. years is not large, but in terms of quality the hidden value is very large.
This is an opportunity for Vietnam’s rice to be produced according to international standards such as GlobalGAP or requirements on food hygiene and safety… but in the past, because there was no market or selling at normal rice prices, the production mindset of the country did not change. farmer.
When entering the EU market, with strict requirements on quality and higher standards of the EU, farmers can completely meet them and when the rice grain sells for a high price, it will create motivation for farmers. and farms, cooperatives and businesses to let Vietnamese rice enter other, broader markets.
“The EU market can be considered as a starting point for Vietnamese rice to enter other high-quality markets, when accepted by the EU market, it will form a brand name for Vietnamese rice grains and this will be an invaluable value. image. This is an opportunity for us to build a rice brand because besides rice, there are other products.
It should be noted that not only exports but also agricultural products for domestic consumption must be upgraded, because when Vietnam exports to the EU, EU businesses also export their agricultural products to Vietnam. The exchange of agricultural products will create a higher awareness of Vietnamese farmers and consumers about food hygiene and safety, this issue not only has economic factors but also has growth factors and values. humanity in the future”, Mr. Tung analyzed.
Source: http://nhipsongdoanhnghiep.cuocsongantoan.vn/
