Reaching 100 SRP points helps LocTroi make a strong impression on international buyers. Photo: L.T

Challenges from new trends

From the importer's perspective, Mr. Vincent Gothknecht, Chief Representative of I.Schroeder Company (Germany) highly appreciated the advantages of Vietnamese agricultural products in the EU market thanks to the EVFTA Agreement. Currently, about 50 Vietnam suppliers provide agricultural products such as lychees, pineapples, passion fruit... and aquatic products for I.Schroeder Company. Accordingly, although Vietnamese agricultural product quality no longer challengeenterprises, climate change, lower emission &carbon neutral requirements are current major bottlenecks...

Mr. Vicent pointed out that domestic seafood products in the Mekong Delta such as pangasius, shrimp... have met the food safety standards of importing countries, including ASC - International level certification for responsibly farmed seafood, minimizing negative impacts on the environment, ecosystem, community and ensuring good labor regulations. However, Vietnam is still facing difficulties with caught seafood products. Meanwhile, in many other countries such as the Philippines... those poroducts have received MSC certification for sustainable exploitation of aquatic resources. Therefore, many seafood enterprises have lost the opportunity to export to this market.

Mr. Valentin Tran, General Director of Andros Asia - an enterprise specializing in processing and exporting products made from fruit, questioned the fact that Vietnam has not built a strong fruit brand. “When it comes to kiwi, the world immediately thinks of New Zealand, similar to French apples or Peruvian grapes. While no one knows about Vietnamese mango or durian even though they have superior flavor compared to other markets" - Mr. Valentin Tran raised the issue.

Ms. Nguyen Thao Hien, Deputy Director of the European and American Market Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), said that Vietnamese agricultural and food products still often encounter 2 main difficulties in import and export markets such as: food safety and hygiene and sustainable development trends and environmental protection.

Specifically, in mid-May, the EU issued the law on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) forcing importers into the EU to report carbon emissions in goods. At the end of June, the EU continued to promulgate the Anti-Forest Degradation Regulation (EUDR). Accordingly, companies trading in wood, coffee, cocoa, rubber, soybeans, cattle, palm oil and derivative products in the EU must prove that imported products not related to illegal deforestation from after 2021. Violations will result in a minimum fine of 4% of annual sales collected throughout the EU.

It can be seen that regulations on environmental protection in Vietnam's main export markets such as the EU, North America and Northeast Asian markets are becoming increasingly stricter. The US and Canadian governments are also considering mechanisms similar to the EU's CBAM and EUDR. The EU also clearly stated that the product groups included in CBAM and EUDR will be expanded in the future.

To maintain and continue to develop the market, the green transformation and application of circular economic models are inevitable development trends and this trend is gradually forming new rules for global trade and investment. In addition to quality and price, those who best meet such requirements will be selected.

Keep up the rising momentum

Despite obstacles, Vietnamese agricultural products are seen growth prospects in the international market. Agricultural products and food have had a breakthrough in recent years despite general difficulties as well as unpredictable fluctuations in the world market and supply chain chaos. In 2023, Vietnam's export turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products is forecast to still exceed 50 billion USD. Vietnam is currently the world's top 3 supplier of coffee and rice, and the first largest supplier of cashew nuts and pepper...

In particular, in 2022, many types of Vietnamese agricultural products such as fresh bananas, sweet potatoes, bird's nest, grapefruit, longan, passion fruit, durian... were licensed to export to developed and fastidious markets such as America, Japan, China, New Zealand which is a seed for fruit export.

In addition, Mr. Le ThanhHoa, Deputy Director of the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development, Director of SPS Vietnam, assessed that along with Vietnam's accession to the WTO, all legal frameworks, regulations related to quality management, food safety and phytosanitary are fully completed for international food and agricultural trade.

The completion of these frameworks has significantly improved competitiveness and expanded markets for Vietnamese agricultural products. In addition, the Government has issued many decrees to guide and encourage investment in agricultural production and processing and establishing supply chains from production to export in order to increase the price competitiveness of Vietnamese products.

In the coming time, to maintain the growth momentum for agricultural exports, Mr. Hoa said, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will continue to improve policies and legal frameworks to satisfy the global integration. Accordingly, resources will be prioritized for food safety management and supervision from production, harvesting to preservation and processing. Along with that, we will focus on connecting domestic and international consumption. Regulations, market analysis information and consumer preferences will be updated to develop products that meet standards.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is establishing raw material areas to support production and export in addition to improving logistics infrastructure in the agricultural supply chain to ensure food safety. There are also solutions to limit  post-harvest losses and improve the quality of agricultural products.

In fact, many Vietnamese enterprises such as LocTroi, Pan Group, TTCAgriS... have methodically invested in raw material areas and production and processing technology in response to both quality requirements and green and sustainable standards of demanding markets. Among them, LocTroi is the first enterprise in the world to achieve 100 points in the sustainable rice farming program (SRP). LocTroi has successfully exported its own branded rice products to the shelves of 2 major supermarkets in France. TTCAgriS's deeply processed sugar products have also been exported to nearly 30 markets, including demanding markets such as the US, Australia, Europe... At PAN Group, member companies are leaving deep mark in major markets for a series of deeply processed agricultural products such as cashew nuts, coffee, flowers, seafood...