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Trung An brand rice packing line for export to Europe. Source: Trung An Company

Changing production thinking to expand the market

In order to participate in the export supply chain and capture the potential of the Vietnam - European Union Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), Phu Gia Agricultural Products Joint Stock Company has made efforts to find its own direction.

The company representative said that since the EVFTA came into effect, exporting chicken to the European market is the company's dream and the company continuously strives for the goal of having chicken for export.

In order to realize the goal of exporting chicken to the European market, since 2016, Phu Gia Agricultural Products Joint Stock Company has been the focal point in the closed value chain from the production, slaughter, storage and consumption of chicken.

In that process chain, the company has an ISO 1705 certified laboratory with the ability to analyze nearly 50 criteria on animal feed and test for diseases on animals. However, a representative of Phu Gia Agricultural Products Joint Stock Company said that in order to export chicken, according to the Regulations of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the requirements of other countries, poultry and poultry products must come from an epidemic-free country, region or facility.

According to international practice, countries with avian influenza epidemics will not be allowed to export live poultry and unprocessed poultry products. To be able to export poultry and poultry products, they must ensure that the products are of original origin. from the region or at least from a disease-free facility (depending on the requirements of the importing country). In addition, there are a series of other standards and technical barriers of each country that the Vietnamese chicken industry must meet to be able to export.

Nguyen Thi Huyen, CEO of Vietnam Cinnamon Joint Stock Company (Vinasamex), said that, in order to conquer the difficult market, which requires strict quality standards of the EU, Vinasamex has taken measures step by step, from research models, growing areas, production to people. If you want to enter the EU market, you must change your thinking, change your ways of doing things and your approach, you must learn to follow the standards of the high-end market and build a value chain.

Vinasamex CEO said that the company has researched the material growing area, and trained people and company employees to participate in the supply chain from input to output, in line with its commitment to good products and quality, ensuring environmental and social factors. Since 2016, Vinasamex has also achieved the 4 highest international organic certifications of the European, American, Japanese, and Korean markets, affirming that Vinasamex's quality can be met for the whole world with high quality.

According to Huyen, the EU market and many other difficult markets besides the criteria to achieve certification issued by international organizations, they are also very interested in environmental impact factors and environmental protection, biodiversity conservation, concern for the community, increase in people's livelihoods, because these are the plus points for better and more effective assessment and approach to orders.

Ngo Ba Phu, Director of the Trade Promotion Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), said that around the world, especially in Europe, the trend of green and clean consumption has become an official trend rather than a market niche as before. Previously, green and sustainable standards were only seen in high-end segments, but now they have become common requirements in all segments and markets. Guidelines and mechanisms and policies to encourage the development of green economy, circular economy and environmentally-friendly have been promulgated by all levels and sectors. Many industries and businesses have actively grasped the above trend and have made drastic changes in the production chain to meet the standards of green production, green and sustainable export, contributing to capacity improvement. competition and position of Vietnamese exports in the international market.

Comply with strict safety and environmental regulations

Recently, the Prime Minister approved the Project on restructuring the industry and trade sector for the period to 2030 issued in Decision 165/QD-TTg, tasks on restructuring the import-export sector of various industries associated with environmental and social standards.

For example, for agricultural, forestry and fishery products, the task set is to improve productivity, quality, added value, expand markets and brand names of Vietnamese goods. Restructuring export goods with a strong focus on deep processing, high quality and high-tech products. Improve the ability to meet regulations, quality standards, food hygiene and safety, social responsibility standards, environment, low carbon emissions and labor.

For the European market, the requirement is to promote the export of products with high technology content, high value-added manufacturing and processing, green and circular, environmentally friendly goods and low carbon in order to exploit the tax advantages of the EVFTA and UKVFTA.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Dang Hoang An emphasized that green development is an important development trend globally to meet the requirements of sustainable development.

Vietnam is in transition to fulfill its international commitments on sustainable development, energy saving and climate commitments. For businesses, this is also an opportunity to create environmentally friendly goods and services, an opportunity for goods to adapt to increasingly high standards related to environmental protection and climate change. climate change. “It should be noted that the process of achieving carbon neutrality will shift the export comparative advantage from labor and energy intensive sectors to more technically advanced sectors, greener. This awareness is very important, businesses must understand this issue," said Deputy Minister Dang Hoang An.

In import markets, the trend of "green" consumption is increasingly being focused on by consumers. For example, in the Korean market, the Vietnam Trade Office in Korea said that there is an increasing trend of simple food replacing family meals with instant, easy-to-cook and easy-to-eat products, especially in the last 5 years. Along with that is the rise of products that are good for health, increase resistance such as organic products, and food for the elderly. Besides, there is the trend of consuming meat substitutes, protecting the environment with packaging that limits the use of plastic materials, the ESG management model and regulations on food safety, and inspection procedures.

Therefore, according to the Vietnam Trade Office in Korea, in order for export products to be sold well in Korea, products also need complementary factors such as stability in production, and safety in processing.

Having these factors, businesses will be favorable in negotiating and keeping long-term partners. Therefore, localities, associations and businesses need to spend time researching and analyzing the Korean market to clearly determine which products are aimed at which consumer segments, products that need to meet technical and special standards. is a pesticide residue (PLS system) in the Korean market.

Vietnam has participated in many FTAs, where the standards are very strict, and require businesses to meet them. In addition to the transformation efforts on the part of businesses, there needs to be close coordination of management agencies. According to Phu Gia Agricultural Products Joint Stock Company, the roadmap to export chicken meat to Europe according to OIE and Circular 14/2016/TT-BNNPTNT on regulations on areas and facilities that are safe from animal diseases will have to go through 5 years.

In which, there are two contents that enterprises can actively implement, while other contents are related to many levels, branches and agencies. Therefore, in order to export chicken meat to the European market, it is necessary to build a cluster of establishments certified to be disease-free; to build epidemic-free zones by state management agencies; to step up the construction of disease-free areas and facilities for export chickens in order to successfully restructure the agricultural sector.