Agricultural firms need to make greater integration efforts

According to experts, the country’s increased penetration into the world market has brought more challenges than opportunities for the agricultural sector. Recognising this issue, the agricultural sector has been stepping up efforts to improve its competitiveness.

This business imported over 10,000 Australian cattle in 2015. A kilo of Australian beef is still more competitive compared with the domestic alternative even taking into account the import cost.

Targeting niche markets has become a trend for Vietnamese firms. This is a commonly strategy for many enterprises who want to stay competitive with foreign enterprises. For instance, eggs were among Vietnam’s main export produce.

At a recent conference on investment promotion in the agricultural sector, experts stated the obvious - Businesses play an important role in agricultural integration.

"If enterprises only wait for support and guidance, the sector will fail. We need to promote the role of business associations and collaboration between companies and farmers as well as among firms themselves", Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said.

Vietnam has participated in 7 free trade agreement negotiations. By 2018, most ASEAN agricultural produce tariffs among the 10 member states will stand at 0%. The remainder will enjoy a 5% import-export tariff.  More efforts will be needed from both state and private sector to fully benefit from the tariff exemption.