Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development: The EU market is a credit proving the value of Vietnamese agricultural products

The first consecutive days of September have witnessed the export ceremonies of many key agricultural products of Vietnam to the EU after the Vietnam-Europe Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). How does the Minister evaluate the opportunity to export agricultural products to the EU after EVFTA?

– Right in the EVFTA negotiation process, the agricultural sector was identified as an industry with many advantages with 3 main pillars. Firstly, it is possible to promote agricultural export trade in some advantageous commodity groups such as shrimp, coffee, fruit, rice …

Second, through the implementation of the agreement, we can absorb modern EU processing technologies through FDI investment.

Thirdly, we can improve governance through collaborative management training programs; improve market development skills for mutual development.

With these three advantages, from the beginning, the agricultural sector has cooperated with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, businesses and farmers to actively prepare conditions before the agreement takes effect.

Accordingly, the agricultural sector actively promotes production restructuring in a linked chain from material organization, deep processing to product consumption.

Therefore, as soon as the agreement comes into effect, we have seen this opportunity, focusing on boosting export orders to take advantage of tariff quotas preferences. According to preliminary statistics, after only 1 month of implementing the EVFTA agreement, agricultural exports to the EU could increase by 15-17% compared to July 2020.

Please tell the Minister, which products have advantages to export to the EU at present?

– Right on September 16, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development cooperated with Gia Lai province to hold a ceremony to export coffee and passion fruit to the EU under EVFTA, September 17 in Ben Tre is a ceremony to export fruit to the market. after enjoying tariff preferences.

Before that, there was a ceremony to export shrimp to the EU under EVFTA in Ninh Thuan. I think that rice, shrimp, coffee, fruit … are advantageous items of Vietnam in the EU market.

Specifically, with coffee, we can completely add value to the EU market after the tax rate drops from 15% to 0%. In August 2020, Vietnam’s coffee export value to the EU reached 76 million USD, up 34.7% compared to July 2020.

The EU is also the market that consumes the most coffee in Vietnam, accounting for 40% of the total volume and 38% of the total export turnover of the country (average coffee export value to the EU is 1.2-1, USD 4 billion / year for the past 5 years).

Vietnamese rice exported to Europe also has positive signals. In nearly 1 month of EVFTA implementation, the positive effects have spread to the rice export industry, in particular, the price of Vietnam’s rice exports to the EU market has increased popularly from 80-200 USD / ton.

Fresh vegetables and fruits of Vietnam are also assessed to have been opening to the EU since August 1. Currently, the EU is the fourth export market for Vietnamese fruits and vegetables, with this existing platform plus the import tax exemption and reduction as committed in the EVFTA is empowering to help increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese fruits. compared to competitors.

In particular, the export value of Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable products to the EU in August 2020 was estimated at US $ 14.7 million, up 25.2% over the previous month.

Particularly for the fisheries sector, the elimination of tariffs in EVFTA is expected to create a great opportunity for seafood exports. The EU will eliminate tariffs on 86.5% of Vietnam’s seafood export turnover within 3 years, 90.3% within 5 years and 100% within 7 years. For canned tuna, the EU gives Vietnam a tariff quota of 11,500 tons.

Taking advantage of this advantage, from the beginning of August up to now, seafood exports have increased by about 10% compared to July 2020.

In order to take advantage of the EU market, according to the Minister, which solutions should we prioritize?

– It is true that the EU market is opening up extremely wide doors for Vietnamese agricultural products, but in order to meet the requirements of this market, the reorganization of production towards ensuring food safety and traceability Origin is of utmost importance.

In the coming time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will continue to coordinate with businesses to encourage businesses to focus orders for advantageous industries such as vegetables, fruits, aquatic products, industrial crops (tea, coffee, cashew); focus on faster chain production, and control product quality. In particular, it is necessary to prepare well commercial skills to take advantage of.

At the same time, in the long term, it is necessary to have radical and sustainable solutions to promote chain production, closely link with farmers, and form a closed process from material organization, processing and trade. trade.

We must determine that with the EU market, we not only exploit the absolute value of exports but also through this market as credits to prove the production level of Vietnamese farmers, Vietnamese goods. can go anywhere in the world, thereby expanding market capacity.

This year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development set a target to export agricultural products to reach 41 billion USD. With the advantages from the EU market, according to the Minister can we achieve this goal?

– Like other economic sectors, the agricultural sector strives to achieve dual goals, both against the Covid-19 success and ensuring the growth and export goals.

According to the assessment, the results of agricultural exports in the eight months of 2020 are very positive. When the EVFTA comes into effect, we determine this is one of the areas for a breakthrough.

With the positive signals from the EU market, plus the signals from other markets, we expect to achieve the most positive target in the most difficult situation.

Thank you Minister!

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh: Great competitive advantage for the coffee industry

With the implementation of the EVFTA Agreement, the EU has eliminated tariffs on all unroasted or roasted coffee products (down from 7-11% to 0%), processed coffee from 9-12. % will be reduced to 0% by the time the Agreement takes effect on August 1, 2020.

At the same time, out of 39 geographical indications of Vietnam that are committed to protect by the EU when EVFTA is officially put into effect, there are geographical indications on coffee. This is a huge competitive advantage for Vietnam’s coffee industry with competitors in the EU market.

With the active preparation of the Government, businesses and farmers, the coffee industry has made remarkable changes to catch up with the opportunities brought by EVFTA integration.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien: Shrimp exports to the EU will increase sharply

Shrimp is one of the key export products of Vietnam to Europe and the EVFTA Agreement, which took effect from the beginning of August, 2020, has brought prospects for Vietnamese shrimp exports to the EU market in the months end of 2020.

After decreasing continuously from March to June 2020, Vietnam’s shrimp exports to the EU in July 2020 reached 54.2 million USD, up 2% compared to July 2019. Shrimp exports to the EU in August 2020 continued to see growth of about 20% compared to August 2019.

Vietnam shrimp exports to the EU from now to the end of the year are expected to continue to increase although the growth rate is not high due to the impact from the Covid-19 epidemic.

In recent years, seafood enterprises have prepared a system of international standards and certification, updated information on processing activities, logistics … to meet the content stated in the EVFTA Agreement.

In particular, Vietnam is also mobilizing the entire political system, making efforts at the highest level to remove the IUU yellow card, ensure sustainable development and keep the reputation of Vietnam’s fisheries sector. At the same time, we also pay special attention to banning the use of antioxidants to preserve aquatic feed products, meeting the highest EU requirements.

According to danviet.vn