Facilitating consumption and export of agricultural products

It is expected that the export revenue of the whole year can reach 47 billion USD, an increase of 5 billion USD compared to the yearly plan. Meanwhile, the connection between domestic supply and demand for agricultural products also achieved remarkable results in 2021 despite the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The year 2021 marks the creativity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development through the establishment of two Working Groups to direct production and connect the supply and consumption of agricultural products in the North and South, in addition to solving obstacles in the circulation and transportation of agricultural products during social distancing under Government Directive 16.

Diverse forms of supply-demand connection

The working group to direct production and connect the supply and consumption of agricultural products in the southern provinces and cities (Working group 970) launched a portal to connect supply and demand of agricultural products at https://htx.cooplink.com.vn during the social distancing period. Thanks to the online trading platform, 300-400 tonnes of agricultural products were consumed each day.

The supply-demand connecting channel has continued to see more registrations each day, helping bring sellers and buyers closer together in a timely manner.

As a supplier of agricultural products on the online platform from the first days, Director of My Thanh Agricultural Cooperative in Thu Thua district, Long An province, Nguyen Quoc Cuong said that his cooperative still received many orders at the peak of the pandemic, particularly regular orders for supermarket chains in Ho Chi Minh city, Ben Tre, Tien Giang and others.

In addition, thanks to recommendations from Working Group 970, vehicles carrying agricultural products also travelled more smoothly and were granted QR codes to transport goods into green zones right in the centre of the pandemic.

Promoting the connection of global agricultural products

During the fourth outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development coordinated with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and related agencies, to hold trade promotion events and support enterprises in the circulation and transportation of agricultural materials and in arranging human resources to organise “three on the spot” production model in order to prevent production disruptions during the social distancing period.

In recent times, the agricultural sector has continuously organised online meetings to disseminate information and provide guidance on the implementation of new regulations on import and export to key markets such as the EU, the US, China and others.

The export turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products were estimated at nearly 43.5 billion USD by the end of November 2021, up 14.2% over the same period in 2020. The increase in agricultural product prices is one of the reasons for the rise in export value over the same period in 2020, particularly the increasing prices of pepper, rubber, coffee and rice. The advance in export turnover was also thanks to the utilisation of free trade agreements between Vietnam and other countries across the world.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, those results were also attributed to the proactiveness and flexible adaptation to the developments of the COVID-19 pandemic of the agriculture sector, in order to maintain production and ensure an abundant supply for domestic consumption and export.

The consumption and export of agricultural products is forecast to face many challenges in the next year, including limitations to direct trade activities. Therefore, the application of digital transformation to promoting exports through online trading platforms should be held more regularly. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam said that the 970 Forum on connecting production and consumption of agricultural products is being held weekly to create close linkages and cooperation between management agencies, businesses and farmers.

The forum not only connects domestic enterprises, but it will hold sessions to connect global agricultural products in order to make Vietnamese agricultural products to have a wide access to international consumers. Therefore, cooperatives, production facilities and retailers should make more efforts to improve quality and promote brand recognition for Vietnamese agricultural products.