Hung Yen longan, agricultural products overcome Covid-19

Apart from China, the traditional partner, others such as the US, Australia, and Japan all highly regard the potential of Hung Yen longan and agricultural products.

In 2021, Hung Yen's longan output is estimated at 50,000-55,000 tons. Photo: Tung Dinh.

Shorten customs clearance time to China

Mr. Dieu Weihong, Deputy Director of Guangxi Department of Commerce emphasized that this province has land and sea borders with Vietnam, so the Guangxi provincial government wishes to increase economic development and trade with Vietnam.

"Guangxi imports a large amount of Vietnamese fruit. Vietnamese fruits not only meet the fruit demand of the province, but also of many other localities. Products that can be mentioned include longan, dragon fruit, guava, mangosteen", said Mr. Dieu.

The representative of the Guangxi government proposed that the MARD and the MoIT coordinate with relevant localities and agencies of both countries to continue to promote shortening the customs clearance time, creating a good cooperation mechanism between the two countries’ businesses.

"Covid-19 is creating many challenges, including import and export. We would like to ask relevant agencies of both countries to actively find solutions to ensure epidemic prevention and control while maintaining and improving the import-export capacity of agricultural products and other commodities", said Mr. Wang Xiaohua, Deputy Director of Yunnan Department of Commerce.

Mr. Wang added that Yunnan authorities "extremely welcome and long for" businesses of the two countries to actively seek out new opportunities through the online exhibition model at the Yunnan Expo Center.

As shared by the representative of the Chinese Embassy, another solution to improve the export value of Hung Yen agricultural products is to invest in the preliminary and processing stages: "We are encouraging Chinese enterprises to invest in this stage in Vietnam".

Change approach method to the US market

In the new market, Mr. Bui Huy Son, Counselor of the Mission, Vietnam Trade Office in the US, said that due to geographical characteristics, the biggest challenge for our country's agricultural products is to ensure freshness when entering this market since the shipping time is long.

However, the advantage is the high export value and diversity in the consumer culture of Americans who always want to learn about tropical agricultural products such as in Vietnam.

Current and upcoming difficulties are not entirely Covid-19, but also pressure from rivals from the US and South American countries. To solve this problem, Mr. Son thinks that exporters need to connect with US importers to improve payment efficiency.

Mr. Kingsley Songer, General Director of 4 Ways Fresh Company, Australian market, suggested that Vietnam should have a more convenient way to pack fruits for local consumers, suitable for carrying away and using multiple times. This importer estimates that last year they import 50 tons of longan, and expectedly 30 tons of longan from Hung Yen and Son La this year.

As said by Mr. Shiotani Yuichiro, General Director of AEON TOPVALU VIETNAM, at the Ho Chi Minh city bridge point, Hung Yen is a province where many Japanese businesses have taken an interest.

"AEON wants to bring many Vietnamese agricultural products into the Japanese market, especially Hung Yen longan. At present, Japan has not licensed Hung Yen longan. We want to use the AEON worldwide store system to bring Hung Yen longan to many countries".

Actively consume longan and agriculture products

According to the representative of the MoIT, Mr. Vu Ba Phu, Director of the Department of Trade Promotion, for nearly a month, the Department, as the focal point of the MoIT, has coordinated with relevant units under the Ministry to mobilize the involvement of Vietnam Trade Offices system abroad, foreign economic and commercial organizations invite fruit importers from many countries and territories to participate in online transactions with the gardeners, cooperatives, and export enterprises of Hung Yen longan. Besides, the MoIT also invited domestic and foreign distribution systems, e-commerce platforms to participate in distributing Hung Yen longan and agricultural products.