Taking advantage of EVFTA: "It's impossible for everyone's house to shine brightly"

Exporting goods to the EU market is facing some difficulties because countries in this bloc have high regulations on food safety, including imported seafood. Photo: Nguyen Hien

There is a lack of information about the market

According to Mr. Ngo Xuan Nam, Deputy Director of the National Office of Notification and Inquiry Point on Sanitary Epidemiology and Plant and Plant Quarantine (SPS Vietnam), up to now, Vietnam has had more than 16 years of participating in the Trade Organization. World Trade Organization (WTO), participating in 19 Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and 16 Agreements have been officially signed. There are many new generation FTAs, which are an advantage for Vietnamese businesses when exporting agricultural products to major markets. After these Agreements were signed, Vietnam's agricultural, forestry and fishery exports to member countries were promoted.

“For many years, Vietnam's export value has always reached quite high milestones, especially in the past 2 years, Vietnam's export value reached over 50 billion USD and in 2023 it is expected to reach over 54 billion USD. In the context of the Covid-19 epidemic and the war situation between Russia and Ukraine, people's 'money pockets' are drying up, but Vietnam's exports still maintain growth momentum, which is a good sign", Deputy Director of SPS Vietnam Office emphasized.

In particular, in August 2020, the Trade Agreement between Vietnam and 27 European Union (EU) countries has promoted two-way agricultural exports between Vietnam and EU countries to increase. In particular, large commodity industries such as rice, fruits, seafood and some food products... are also promoted for export to the EU market. In the opposite direction, Vietnam has also imported a number of products originating from animals and plants from the EU market.

Exporting to any market must comply with that market's regulations, no two markets are the same. But Vietnamese businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, still lack information about the market and have the mindset to accept risks in exporting agricultural products... Currently, for the EU market, Vietnam has There are commitments on food safety and animal and plant disease safety in exporting agricultural products and food to this market. For the EU market in the first 10 months of 2023, EU members have up to 103 notifications and drafts for comments on food safety measures and animal and plant disease safety to serve control of agricultural products and food when imported to the EU market.

"That's why, in exporting agricultural products, it's not possible for everyone's house to shine". Vietnamese businesses that want to reach large markets need to link and cooperate together because only then will we be able to compete fairly with competitors. Large corporations from other countries are not only strong in economic potential but also in technology while Vietnam's small and medium enterprises account for 80%, if operating individually, our businesses can losing right at home, let alone reaching outside markets," Mr. Ngo Xuan Nam emphasized.

Increase technical barriers when reducing tariff barriers

Giving more information about the difficulties in exporting agricultural products to the EU market, Mr. Vo Quoc Van, Deputy Director of Regional Center 6, Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) ) said that the EU is a potential export market for many types of Vietnamese agricultural, forestry and fishery products in the coming time thanks to the market size of more than 500 million people and the increasing consumer demand for agricultural and food products along with commitments cutting most tariffs in a short roadmap under Vietnam's FTA with the EU. However, this is also one of the most demanding markets with very high animal and plant quarantine regulations and strict control, especially with agricultural, forestry and fishery products.

Exporting goods to the EU market is facing some difficulties because countries in this bloc have high regulations on food safety, including imported seafood; Vietnam's seafood shipments have been warned by EU authorities that antibiotic chemicals tend to increase... In addition, Vietnam has not yet overcome the "yellow card" against illegal and unreported fishing and unregulated (IUU). Currently, only a few export processing facilities recognized by the EU have a list, the remaining facilities do not fully meet EU regulations on conditions to ensure food safety.

Many experts also commented that the trend of the EU market is to increase technical barriers when reducing tariff barriers. This can be easily seen when, immediately after the EVFTA took effect, the EU made many announcements related to rules for facilities raising and transporting aquatic animals or increasing regulations on animal health requirements for movements of terrestrial animals and incubation eggs; surveillance rules, elimination programs and disease-free status for certain listed and emerging diseases.

In addition, the EU market also offers many standards and certifications from consumer associations, non-governmental organizations, and retailers that businesses that want to export must follow as global standards on food safety established by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), sustainable aquaculture (ASC), global good agricultural practices (GlobalGAP).

Only for seafood exports, over the past years, the Vietnam SPS Office has continuously provided information related to the conditions for exporting to the European market in terms of food safety and animal quarantine. If you do not clearly understand the regulations and import conditions of the markets, it will be difficult to access these markets. To facilitate seafood exports to the EU market, the Deputy Director of the Vietnam SPS Office said that it is necessary to manage, organize farming and control quality because items that sell a lot today will likely decrease in the near future. The first important thing is to improve product quality.