Affirming Vietnamese agricultural products’ value

On September 16, a ceremony to launch Vietnam's first batch of coffee and passion fruit to the EU under EVFTA was held in Gia Lai Province. Following this, on September 17, a ceremony was held in Ben Tre to announce the export of fruit to the market. Earlier, a ceremony was held on September 11 in Ninh Thuan Province to announce the export of the first batch of Vietnamese frozen shrimp to the EU.

Immediately after the EVFTA took effect, many of our key agricultural products were welcomed by the European market, showing the value and advantages of Vietnamese agricultural products. It also shows that the agricultural sector is well prepared to turn opportunities into real results, contributing to raising the export value of agricultural products. Penetrating the European market is expected to open new opportunities for Vietnamese agricultural products in other demanding markets.

Over the past time, in addition to authorities’ efforts to facilitate legal procedures for exporters, localities, businesses and farmers have been very proactive in quickly adapting to the requirements of the EVFTA.

For seafood, the EU has been a key market, bringing high turnover for many years, thus the EVFTA is expected to continue to "open the door" for the product to dominate a larger market share in the total seafood import value of Europe. Meanwhile, for coffee, the EU is also the highest consumer of Vietnamese coffee, accounting for 40% of the total output and 38% of the country's total export turnover.

Statistics show that the average coffee export value to the EU has reached US$1.2 to 1.4 billion per year in the past five years. Immediately after the EVFTA took effect, in August 2020, the export value of the commodity to the EU was estimated at nearly US$ 76 million, up 34.7% compared to July 2020. The door into Europe has also opened wide for Vietnamese fruits and vegetables as the EU immediately eliminated 94% of the total 547 tax lines for fruits and vegetables, as well as products from fruits and vegetables.

The advantage was proven when in August 2020, Vietnam's fruit and vegetable export to the EU was estimated at US$ 14.7 million, up 25.2% over the previous month. Currently, the EU is the fourth export market for Vietnamese fruits and vegetables. With the available steps in addition to enjoying a 0% tax rate, Vietnam's fruit competitiveness has been strengthened compared to countries that do not have an FTA with the EU.

In addition to the above commodities, in general, the export value of agricultural, forestry and fishery products to the EU in August 2020 has reached US$ 350 million, up 17% compared to July 2020.

However, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the past ten years, Vietnam's agricultural, forestry and fishery exports to the EU have not grown very high, reaching an average of 6.7% per year. It is forecast that exports of some agricultural products will increase significantly until 2025 thanks to the EVFTA, such as rice (up 65%), sugar (8%), pork (4%), forest products (3%) and meat from cattle and poultry (4%) Thus, the potential of Vietnam's agricultural products to enter Europe is quite large.

In the coming time, in order to continue to promote the advantages in the market, the agricultural commodities still have efforts to improve, such as production and processing, consumption in a closed chain, ensuring food hygiene and safety, with the most stringent requirements from Europe. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the sustainable development of the environment and using labour because these are issues that European countries attach great importance to in agricultural production.