Vietnamese products like "a pearl" wait for China to buy

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Agricultural exports depends on the Chinese market. Photo: Nguyen Thanh.

That is the shared opinion of expert Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuc, who has more than 20 years experience in trading agricultural products with Chinese traders in the agricultural theme "Solutions for trade development for agricultural products in Vietnam" located in the framework of the Vietnam Economic Forum 2018 on 5 June 2018 in Hanoi.

According to Ms. Thuc, if we want to sell goods, we should go to the market. At present, the biggest "market" in the world is China, but there are no Vietnamese booths in China so they have to come to Vietnam to buy. This is a problem to think about.

"70% of Vietnam's agricultural products are exported to China. Over the years, Chinese traders understand Vietnamese agriculture. They know where and what seasons have the best agricultural products to buy. I still compare Vietnam agricultural products as,"a pearl waiting for China to pick up". In fact, Vietnamese agricultural products are waiting for Chinese traders to come to the house to buy,“she said.

Ms. Thuc said that in the trade of agricultural products, Vietnam needed to recognize China as a big consumer market but also the biggest rival when the Chinese production and technology in agriculture are developing. China is a big market and supplier and needs to buy raw materials for processing and exporting to the world. If Vietnam is convinced that it can meet the demand, it will attract Chinese businesses.

In relation to the Chinese market, agricultural expert Dang Kim Son, former director of the Institute for Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), said that the Chinese market was close to Vietnam and was both a challenge and an opportunity for Vietnam.

Vietnam's export of agricultural products to China is ranked first in exporting all over the world. For example, exports of rice, pangasius, rubber, vegetables and cassava to China are ranked first, exports of shrimp and cashew nuts are ranked third.

"In the coming time, Vietnam must diversify the export market, and exploit the maximum benefits in the Chinese market. However, exports to China must be different, not through intermediary traders, but towards the value chain", Mr. Son said.

Regarding issues in the agriculture sector, the Minister - Head of Government Office, Mr. Mai Tien Dung said that in addition to the positive results, the agricultural sector still had certain limitations. Typically, there are many restrictions on processing; inadequate management of input materials, production organization, and control of goods circulation.

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"To address these inadequacies, the important principle is to approach the right direction, get the market as a target and get market standard as a measure of quality", said Minister Mai Tien Dung.