Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said that although the opportunity from the EU market is large, “this does not mean that we have everything right on the table”.
The land is still big, but the pressure is bigger
At the Conference to support SMEs to take advantage of and effectively implement EVFTA, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said that the EU is the second largest import demand in the world. Each year they import US $ 2,400 billion.
The conference assists SMEs to take advantage of opportunities and effectively implement EVFTA. Photo: Duc Quynh
Although Vietnam 's export has been very fast, reaching 41 billion USD, the export market share to Europe has only stopped at 2% and ranked 7th among the partners of this market.
“It shows that the geographical area is still very large for Vietnam by looking at the structure of the industry, we have the competitiveness, production and export from textiles, wooden furniture, electronics …
However, Vietnam's tax rates usually fluctuate 10 – 30%. This means our competitiveness is lower than our European counterparts, ”the minister said.
According to Minister Tran Tuan Anh, with the current reduction, we have the advantage and aim for a greater market share and high added value.
“However, this does not mean that we have everything right on the table,” the minister stressed.
The European market has very stringent and technical requirements related to food hygiene and safety and other factors.
Seafood, for example, last time we had a lot of potential to grow in the European market but because we are getting a yellow card. That said, we are under great pressure on the conditions, ”the minister said.
Mr. Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Import and Export Department, said a number of exporting enterprises in the fields of textiles, footwear, furniture, seafood with large scale and methodical business to the EU market.
However, many businesses exporting to the EU are small and medium-sized enterprises with limited resources, production processes that have not met EU standards, have not had proper investment in R&D, and have not exploited effectively intellectual property, brand …
At the same time, enterprises lack human resources with foreign languages and professional trade promotion negotiation skills to carry out export activities to the EU market.
What businesses need to do to take advantage of EVFTA?
In the coming time, Mr. Hai said that one of the things that Vietnamese businesses need to do right away is invest in improving the value and quality of goods and products to enhance the competitiveness of products in the EU market.
Mr. Hai said that businesses need to focus on food hygiene, meet the standards and management processes prescribed by the EU, attach great importance to social responsibility, transparency of labor and environmental information. production, especially ensuring rules of origin when exporting to the EU.
In order to effectively take advantage of the benefits offered by EVFTA, businesses need to proactively explore the content of EVFTA, especially the commitments related to tariffs and rules of origin, and proactively adjust the production process. export, raw materials to meet the rules of origin of the Agreement.
In addition, businesses need to redirect import sources to domestic raw materials or from EVFTA member countries.
For SMEs, EVFTA should be considered as starting a business journey in a new context, taking competition pressure as a driving force for innovation and development.
At the same time, it is also necessary to actively seek cooperation with partner markets of the Agreement to attract strong direct investment in Vietnam in order to effectively utilize capital and technology transfer from large corporations. .
This is also a good opportunity for Vietnamese SMEs to participate more deeply in the regional and global supply chains.
