Help Vietnamese agricultural products have “passports” into the EU market

Dragon fruit stored in cold storage for export to the EU. Photo: N.Hiền

On August 17, 2018, the Business Association of High Quality Vietnamese held a workshop on “Overcoming technical barriers to agricultural products and foods for export to Europe”. The workshop was held to assist Vietnamese food and agricultural businesses in understanding the technical barriers of Europe, as well as suggesting solutions to change their production in the direction of innovation and sustainability to grow and integrate.

Repeated warnings

Along with the markets of the US, South Korea, the EU market is one of Vietnam’s 4 big markets. Currently, the EU market accounts for 19% of Vietnam’s export market share, behind the US market (21%) and far exceeds other markets. It is expected that the export turnover into the EU market will grow strongly in the future, when the tariffs are gradually reduced to 0% after the EVFTA comes into force.

However, along with the high export volume, the number of warnings on Vietnamese products from EU importers is quite high. Ms. Marieke Van De Piji – representative of Eurocham said that in 2017, the EU gave 77 warnings to Vietnam’s export products, of which 23 shipments were rejected. In the first months of 2018, the EU continued to reject 11 shipments with a total 33 warned shipments.

In fact, Vietnam has been prohibited to export several items to the EU market due to the residues of antibiotics, heavy metals… Incidentally, the EU has imposed a yellow card to Vietnam’s aquatic products.

"If not quickly adjusted for the EU to withdraw the yellow card, the risk of red card is visible. This means that the EU prohibits the reception of certain fishery products. At the time, it would take more time for Viet Nam to adjust, and at the same time, it also affects the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the EU due to the influence of trust,” said Ms. Marieke Van De Pijl.

Agreeing with Ms. Marieke Van De Pijl, Mr. Nguyen Huy - Director of Food Bureau Veritas said that the problem of Vietnam’s food safety into the EU market is the residue of veterinary drugs, heavy metals, pathogenic bacteria, etc. In particular, 50-60% of cases of vegetable products are warned due to pesticide residues and molds.

Talking about the cause of agricultural products and foods of Vietnam that have been warned many times by the EU, Ms. Marieke Van De Pijl said that Vietnam only checked the final product, there was no monitoring mechanism for the whole chain. This is a limitation that agricultural exports must overcome.

“Made in Vietnam” products are Vietnamese standards, but when exported, they must meet the standards of other countries. While each market has a different standard, this is also a big challenge for farmers and exporters. While building a common standard for markets is still a long run.

Support farmers in getting standard certification

Ms. Marieke Van De Pijl added that with the EVFTA, there will be many barriers that will force Vietnamese enterprises to take corrective measures to increase their export output into the EU market. Accordingly, along with ensuring the quality of goods, it should pay attention on technical barriers, rules of origin...

Accordingly, there must be a cold storage and packaging chain to ensure bacteria cannot penetrate, the process of transportation of goods must be highly specialized. In particular, it must have the “trace the origin” of products, so that when the problem occurs, they can determine the cause and take measures to resolve quickly.

An important requirement of EVFTA is that the rules on origin of the product will be applied and tightened. Only products originating in Vietnam will enjoy tariff preferences. Eurocharm experts give an example that Vietnam is importing about 60% of cashew nuts from other countries for processing and then packaging as being of Vietnamese origin. However, in the coming time, products manufactured in this form will not be recognized as originating in Vietnam, meaning they will not enjoy preferential tax rates.

Facing with the reality, in order for Vietnamese agricultural products and foods to penetrate and dominate the potential but hard markets such the EU, Ms. Vu Kim Hanh, president of the Business Association of High-quality Vietnam Products together with the project of high quality Vietnamese goods - Integration standards are trying to support enterprises to change their perceptions, aiming at products that are certified by Vietnamese standards and international standards. That means, export products meeting the quality standards, and being responsible in the economic integration.

Mr. Huy said that the products, if being produced and controlled under the international standards, will ensure the access from the farm to the shelves for sale, which will meet the requirements of the EU.

Ms. Hanh added that the High Quality Vietnamese Product Business Association has recently signed a contract with the Ministry of Science and Technology to raise awareness of farmers and small and medium enterprises, by a commitment on quality integration. Because in fact, farmers’ awareness of standard certifications are very low, and the percentage of certified farmers is very small.