Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development holds emergency meeting on coronavirus

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A view of the meeting.

Congestion, local oversupply

On the afternoon ofthe 3rd of February, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) heldan urgent meeting about promoting trade and developing agricultural production amid the impact of coronavirus.

Commenting on the impact of the viruson agricultural trade between Vietnam and China, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam said thatagricultural exports are expected to face many challenges.

Among fruits; dragon fruits and watermelons are the two main products, accounting for a large proportion to serve the Chinese market during and after the Tet holiday.

Through review, from now until the full moon of the first lunar month, in Long An province, the harvest of dragon fruit is about 21,600 tons; the next batch from February 8 to February 28 will harvest about 54,000 tons. In early March, in Tien Giang harvested about 10,000 tons, BinhThuan about 100,000 tons.

Most of the above-mentioned fruit products are fresh and unprocessed. Although localities have guided and actively adjusted production plans, local congestion and oversupply will take place due to limited transactions at border market pairs in Quang Tay and Van provinces. In the South, the New Year holidays are prolonged and measures to ensure the prevention of acute pneumonia are implemented from both sides.

Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam added that livestock products are exported to China, especially Vietnamese dairy products which are only allowed to be exported officially from October 2019, the export will meet difficulties in China's domestic and international trade due to the impact of the coronavirus epidemic.

Similarly, with seafood products, in the first quarter of 2020, China announced it wouldstop importing, making exporting seafood difficult.

“Many Chinese importers have informed Vietnamese seafood exporters to suspend deliveries until February 9, 2020 or until information is normalized to resume operations from the Chinese Government,”Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam said.

Promote domestic consumption and increase deep processing

In the current situation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development offers two scenarios to respond to acute respiratory infections caused by coronavirus.

Regarding the immediate plan,after the Lunar New Year holiday until February 9, 2020, if the acute pneumonia epidemic is not effectively controlled and spread on a large scale, the Government of China will apply stronger measures.

Dragon fruit is a typical product facing many challenges in exporting to China. Photo: Internet

Specifically, restrictingthe movement people among localities of China; prolonging the restriction of activities of transaction points, wholesale markets, agricultural product distribution centers in many localities of China in order to avoid large crowds to facilitate the spread of epidemics; prolong the closing of purchase and sale transactions at pairs of markets in border areas.

In this context, the Ministry's units continued to update and closely follow the directions of the Government to effectively implement the prevention of coronavirus.

Specifically, the Plant Protection Department and the Department of Animal Health coordinates with the border forces to strengthen animal and plant quarantine, prevent H5N1 and prohibit the import of wild animals into Vietnam, comply with the Directive of the Prime Minister in Directive No. 05 / CT-TTg dated January 28, 2020 on prevention and control of acute respiratory infections caused by new strains of coronavirus.

In case of an outbreak that lasts for months, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development determined to coordinate with industry associations, businesses, units of Industry and Trade, and localities to promote trade promotion to bring agricultural goods on consumption in systems, big supermarket chains; giving priority to the domestic market; promote preservation and processing.

In addition to focusing on directing research to adjust a number of plants and animals to suit the needs of the consumer market and comparative advantages of each locality.

In addition, the Department of Agro-product Processing and Market Development and other specialized agencies actively coordinate with the Trade Office of the Embassy of Vietnam in countries around the world to implement the most effective promotion activities, develop markets in key, potential and niche markets from the beginning of 2020, creating a breakthrough in market diversification.

Continue to coordinate with the Trade Office of the Embassy of Vietnam in China to deploy promotion and market development missions in key localities of China at the most appropriate time right after the Chinese side to control epidemic pneumonia caused by coronavirus.