Complying with regulations of each market for smooth fruit and vegetable exports

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Mr. Đang Phuc Nguyen

The fruit and vegetable industry is becoming one of the key agricultural sectors of our country. In your opinion, what is the reason why the Vietnamese fruit and vegetable industry has continuously broken records in recent times?

With its geographical location in Southeast Asia, adjacent to the East Sea coast stretching 3,260 km and tropical monsoon climate conditions with large annual rainfall favorable for the cultivation industry, Vietnam has great potential to become one of the leading countries in the production and export of vegetables, flowers and tropical fruits in the regional and international markets.

With a fruit growing area of ​​about 1.2 million hectares and a total output of over 14 million tons/year, Vietnam has the potential to become one of the important fruit exporting countries in the world.

The evidence is that the export turnover of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables has continuously increased from US $3.3 billion in 2022 to US $5.6 billion in 2023 and this year it could reach more than US $7.2 billion. It is expected that the export turnover of fruits and vegetables can reach more than US $10 billion by 2030.

This result is due to the fact that the quality of our fruits and vegetables is increasingly improved thanks to the application of modern production processes with international quality standards such as VietGap, GlobalGap. In addition, we have diversity in types and price competition.

Another important thing is that the State has many policies to support the development of the agricultural sector, creating very favorable conditions for the production and export of fruits and vegetables.

In addition, the demand for fresh food is increasing, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, people's consumption habits have changed, with a tendency to consume more fresh food, creating favorable conditions for the export of fruits and vegetables.

In addition, Vietnam has negotiated and signed a series of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Accordingly, 16/19 FTAs ​​along with many protocols with important markets have opened up many opportunities for Vietnamese fruit and vegetable exports to penetrate deeply into markets, especially markets with large, emerging demand such as China, the Middle East, South Asia, India, etc., creating many new opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises.

In addition, Vietnam has a favorable geographical location, adjacent to the world's largest fruit and vegetable consumption market, China. This is a market with an annual fruit and vegetable import turnover of nearly US $20 billion.

China is also one of the largest fruit import markets of Vietnam in the past year, estimated at US $4.6 billion, accounting for nearly 70% of Vietnam's fruit exports.

This is a large, potential market, with a population of 1.4 billion people and is the second largest economy in the world. The border gates in Vietnam are located very close to the wholesale markets in China, which has greatly shortened the time it takes to transport fruits and vegetables from the production site to the Chinese consumer market, significantly reducing logistics costs compared to other countries.

Seaports in China are very close to Vietnamese ports, helping to increase the competitiveness of the Vietnamese fruit and vegetable industry. Moreover, Vietnam's fruit exports also have the advantage of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements of which both countries are members. This is a great opportunity for Vietnamese fruits to penetrate deeply into this large market.

Besides the advantages as you analyzed above, Vietnamese fruits and vegetables also face many challenges, could you please elaborate?

Despite many geographical advantages, Vietnamese fruits and vegetables face many competitors in the international arena such as Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia, Australia and some countries in South America such as Chile, Peru, Ecuador.

Vietnamese fruits and vegetables face many challenges such as fierce competition from many exporting countries, strict technical barriers on quality, packaging, and traceability of import markets.

Although China is a potential market for Vietnamese fruits and vegetables, there are also many competitors for Vietnamese fruits and vegetables in China. Meanwhile, China's food safety standards are increasingly strict, requiring Vietnamese businesses to update and meet market requirements.

Specifically, China's regulations on plant hygiene and animal and plant quarantine are relatively complicated. Vietnam's exported fruits and vegetables must have a growing area code issued by the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC).

Export processing and packaging facilities must also be issued a code by GACC. In addition, China's regulations on phytosanitary and animal and plant quarantine are quite complicated and time-consuming. Processing and packaging facilities must also register for a code issued by the Chinese Customs after strict inspection.

Furthermore, finding customers and building distribution channels in China is also a big challenge because most Vietnamese fruits and vegetables are sold to small Chinese traders who are concentrated in the northern border of Vietnam.

Not only China, but many key markets for Vietnam's fruit and vegetable industry such as the US, Japan, and Australia also have increasingly complex technical barriers and high standards.

Specifically, the increase in imported fruits to the US is also accompanied by regulations on diversifying quarantine forms, growing areas and processing facilities must meet different standards, ensuring no pesticide residues, no contamination with microorganisms, mold bacteria. The harvesting process does not affect the quality of the fruit...

If the technical barriers of the importing country are not fully understood and complied with, they will turn into "potholes" for Vietnamese enterprises on the export path, and can even wipe out efforts in opening the market, which is very difficult and arduous.

According to you, what do we need to do to "overcome" these barriers?

Understanding and complying with the regulations of each market is the only way for goods to be exported smoothly. Accordingly, our enterprises and farmers have to comply with the growing areas, packaging facilities, food hygiene and safety, plant quarantine, and meet all technical barriers.

In addition, it is necessary to diversify products, including deeply processed products, to meet the increasingly diverse needs of consumers in terms of design and origin.

Enterprises need to invest more in production and processing technology, apply international techniques and standards to ensure quality and food hygiene and safety.

Thank you!