With 49% of the untapped market share, the EU market is expected to make a breakthrough for Vietnam’s import-export activities when the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is implemented. The question is how can Vietnamese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) effectively exploit this Agreement?
Many limitations
With the goal of exporting sachi seeds to the EU market, Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Thong – Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cooperatives (Cooperatives) Trade, service, tourism and import and export of Kim Thong – said, though given with the support of the Vietnam Trade Office in some countries such as Germany, Italy, cooperatives still face difficulties when promoting export to the EU market.
The reason is that the implementation of administrative procedures takes too much time and costs for major promotion activities. In particular, the cooperative lacks information on product needs, especially information about reputable importers.
Trade promotion activities are implemented in many forms
The problems that Kim Thong encountered is the common situation of SMEs when conducting trade promotion activities, expanding the EU market. Mr. Mac Quoc Anh – Vice Chairman of the Association of SMEs – assessed that the EU market, despite EVFTA, is still not an “easy-to-eat piece of cake” when capital, production technology, competitiveness and meeting the criteria. standards, commodity regulations … of Vietnamese SMEs are very limited.
Lack of capital, limited international trade experience, products not yet built and brand protection … are “bundling” businesses when conducting trade promotion activities.
The next difficulty for SMEs is language barriers, cultural differences as well as limited knowledge on EU market regulations. Mr. Vu Ba Phu – Director of Trade Promotion Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) – shared that meeting the requirements of tangible products is the most basic step.
In order to trade and exchange successfully with EU customers, there are many intangible factors, values and services; These factors actually play a very important role. To be able to compete, Vietnamese enterprises still have many gaps to complete.
Solutions
With 49% of the untapped market share, the EU market is expected to create a breakthrough for Vietnam’s import-export activities.
Mr. Mac Quoc Anh proposed: With limited financial resources, instead of supporting thousands of SMEs, the state will focus on long-term and comprehensive support for a few large enterprises to penetrate and gain a foothold in the EU market. These businesses will link up with other SMEs; At the same time, leading the production chain, supplying goods to the EU.
The support of state management agencies is necessary but sufficient conditions must be the effort of enterprises to actively take advantage of the support to participate in trade promotion activities, expand markets …
“The best way to support SMEs is to overcome 3 major limitations: Market access, competitiveness and quality of human resources. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has developed a plan to overcome and increase trade promotion effectiveness, ”said Mr. Phu.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will provide online documents, specialized manuals detailing technical requirements on import and export management and instructions on how to exploit with each specific product of the EU market. Coordinating with trade promotion agencies of Vietnam in EU countries to organize online conferences, connecting Vietnamese businesses with EU businesses.
Integrating trade promotion activities for SMEs with other Ministry programs to mobilize resources and create the best effects for enterprises. In the first 5 years after the agreement comes into effect, the Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to train expertise through training business management skills, international marketing, international trade promotion …
Focusing on brand communication for businesses; guide enterprises to register geographical indications and increase the value of products; technology application …
Mr. Vu Ba Phu – Director of Trade Promotion Department:
By the end of 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will put the trade promotion ecosystem into operation, helping Vietnamese SMEs to widely connect EU businesses with almost negligible costs, contributing to solving the “problem” costs for businesses.
