In the first seven months of this year, the Covid-19 pandemic caused many difficulties, the export of agricultural, forestry and fishery products recorded positive results, with a trade surplus of US$3.9 billion.

Cau Treo Customs arranges customs officers to carry out customs procedures
for enterprises 24 hours per day. Photo: Phan Tram

Exports up 26.7%

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, since the beginning of the year, the pandemic has significantly affected import and export activities by reducing orders of some export enterprises, impacting commercial logistics services and causing a shortage of supplies in international markets.

In addition, there is a shortage of empty containers, local stagnation of transportation due to the narrowing of airways and waterways, labour shortage, which hurts agricultural trade in the international market.

However, statistics released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on August 4 showed that the total export value in the past seven months reached about US$28.6 billion, up 26.7% over the same period last year.

Many products/product groups with increased export value included rubber, vegetables and fruits, pepper, cashew nuts, cassava and cassava products, livestock products, pangasius, shrimp; wooden product; rattan, bamboo, sedge carpet; cinnamon, etc. Rubber, vegetable and fruit products, cashew nut, cassava and cassava products increased in both export volume and value.

In the first seven months of 2021, the largest export market of Vietnam's agriculture, forestry and fishery products was the US, reaching over US$8.2 billion (accounting for 28.9% of the market share); China ranked second with nearly US$5.5 billion (accounting for 19.2% market share); third is the Japanese market with an export value of over US$1.9 billion (accounting for 6.8%). The fourth is the South Korean market with an export value of more than $1.2 billion (accounting for 4.3%).

On the import side, a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said the total import value in the past seven months was estimated at about US$ 24.7 billion, up 42.8% over the same period last year. Thus, the whole industry had a trade surplus of US$3.9 billion.

China tightens import and export regulations

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said despite efforts to achieve significant export growth, from now to the end of the year, production and consumption of agricultural products will face difficulties.

For example, the traditional export market of agricultural products is China is increasingly tightening regulations on import and export of goods. China has stepped up the inspection of goods, disinfecting goods and means of transport for exports from pandemic-hit areas of Vietnam.

They continue to implement management and traceability of goods, so the time for customs clearance of import and export goods is prolonged and has strengthened the management of the driver fleet at the border gate.

In addition, China also strictly implements the prevention of Covid-19 through a team of dedicated drivers, which increases time to release goods, so sometimes local congestion occurs.

In addition, major export markets have increased the use of technical trade barriers and origin investigation for a number of key export agricultural products of Vietnam.

According to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien, export markets have been affected, business activities disrupted, profits of enterprises decreased and trade hit during the pandemic period, resulting in pressure on costs, fee, and taxes for businesses.

In addition, when export orders gradually decrease it increases pressure on storageand maintenance costs (especially cold storage to preserve agricultural products) and working capital due to the backlog of goods.

Leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development mentioned the cold storage logistics system for preserving agricultural products is limited. The country currently has 48 cold storages for agricultural and fishery preservation services with a capacity of about 700,000 pallets and thousands of cold storages with a total storage capacity of 2 million tonnes of products for certain markets (mainly for export).

"However, the current quantity of cold storage does not meet the needs for preserving agricultural and aquatic products for fresh preservation and export processing, especially in the Mekong Delta," said Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien.