Strategy needed for vegetable exports to Europe

Vietnam's vegetable exports still face many difficulties and challenges in the European market, and have a market share of less than 1 per cent. A long-term general strategy on exporting vegetables to the market is necessary.

At the "Section on exporting vegetables and fruits to the EU", Agricultural Counselor to the EU, Tran Van Cong, assessed that the EU is the largest fruit and vegetable import market in the world.

Each year, this market imports about 35 billion euros, accounting for 45% of the global trade in fruit and vegetables. This is a potential market for Vietnamese fruits and vegetables.

LOT OF TRADE PROMOTION, PROMOTION OF US PRODUCTS

Over the past time, Vietnam's fruit and vegetable exports to the EU have made positive progress, with an average annual growth of nearly 20%. In the first eight months of 2021, the export turnover of our country's vegetables and fruits to the EU reached US$88.5 million.

Products imported from Vietnam include mango, passion fruit, longan, litchi, mangosteen, jackfruit, guava, spices, sweet potato... However, Mr. Cong said that Vietnam's fruit and vegetable export turnover to the EU currently only reach about 150 million USD, equivalent to 0.36% of EU imports. Exporting vegetables and fruits to the EU still faces many difficulties and challenges.

Specifically, the synchronization and linkage in fruit and vegetable production in Vietnam is not high. We do not have a large-scale production area to ensure quality as well as a stable supply to meet export demand.

In addition, the preservation, processing, and post-harvest technology to ensure the circulation time in the EU market is still limited. Issues related to packaging, labeling, packaging and design are not suitable for the tastes of European consumers.

Moreover, the cost of logistics transportation is too high in the past time, which has affected the distribution costs of fruit and vegetable products in the EU market, reducing competitiveness compared to competitors such as South America and Europe. Africa, West Asia.

"We still lack national trade promotion programs for fruit and vegetables in the EU market. Promotion programs in this market have not been properly invested."

Mr. Tran Van Cong- Agricultural Counselor in the EU

“Unfortunately, Vietnamese enterprises participating in exporting these products to the EU are still limited. The number of export enterprises capable of meeting the EU's conditions and criteria is still small," said Cong.

In the same assessment, Vietnamese Ambassador to the Netherlands Pham Viet Anh also said that Vietnamese fruit and vegetable products present in Asian supermarkets are sold by Chinese, Indonesian and some small Vietnamese people. , but in general the number is very small.

Products are mainly frozen or pre-frozen such as bamboo shoots, okra, taro, cassava, etc. There are few fresh fruits in the Dutch market with limited categories (such as dragon fruit, longan, passion fruit) .

According to Mr. Pham Viet Anh, Vietnamese vegetables and fruits have not dominated the Dutch market because of more subjective reasons than objective. Most notably, there is no stable source of goods. We still suffer from fragmentation, lack of connection, lack of investment in technology to meet standards, lack of stable raw material areas.

In addition, the geographical distance is far, the transportation is difficult and passive, so the price is always high. Storage conditions are not good, so it is difficult for fresh goods to arrive in the EU. Vietnamese products have not joined the large distribution chain of the host country, only sold to regular customers and small Asian supermarkets. Being competitive with partners with many favorable conditions as well as high technology…

To solve the problem of exporting agricultural products to the EU, Mr. Cong said that first of all, ministries and sectors need to focus on creating an incentive mechanism to promote the development of standard raw material areas in the direction of certification and organic assurance. supply to the EU market.

There are mechanisms and policies with logistics transportation to ensure quality raw materials, encourage businesses to invest in high technology, digital technology, transparent traceability.

PROPOSED FOR BUILDING GENERAL STRATEGY

For businesses, Mr. Cong recommended, it is necessary to focus on researching and creating products that are suitable for the tastes of European consumers.

Changing the approach for EU businesses: firmly grasp the regulations on market, technology and foreign trade. Know who the customer is, respect the commitments when signing the contract…

Along with that, improve competitiveness, build brands, link with cooperatives to expand raw material areas, stabilize supply; forming an association or group to export fruits and vegetables to the EU, connecting with businesses in the EU...

"We encourage importers in the EU to form an association of Vietnamese fruit and vegetable importers to create strength and expand market share in the EU," said Cong.

The problem of penetrating the distribution channel in the host country is very important to target European customers as quickly as possible. It is necessary to create our credibility and your trust through joint venture cooperation, association and assurance of EU companies, however, the Vietnamese Embassy in the Netherlands also cautions against self-destruction. into an area that provides pure raw materials, not products.

Another problem, according to Mr. Pham Viet Anh, needs to be more specific and methodical about the needs and consumption habits of actual customers, not in writing to provide businesses, scientists school and farmer.

Vietnamese representative agencies in the EU market will jointly research, investigate and probe through the weeks and days of promoting Vietnamese goods to summarize and bring back home, from which domestic agencies synthesize and research research and develop appropriate policies.

In order to implement effective fruit and vegetable export promotion to the EU, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposed to develop an overall strategy for Vietnam's fruit and vegetable export to this market, integrated in the overall strategy on promotion of fruits and vegetables to the EU. Trade is chaired by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Including connections with Vietnamese embassies abroad and localities and businesses to promote in the coming time. Currently, we do not have an overall strategy for exporting fruit through the EU market.

"We do not have an overall strategy for fruit export through the EU market. The biggest bottleneck of Vietnamese agriculture today is farmers with seasonal thinking, business people thinking business, the government thinking duty. That is, we think too short, go alone."

Mr. Le Minh Hoan - Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development

"If you want to go far, you need to go together", many opinions suggest establishing an alliance or association, or a business club that exports vegetables and fruits to the European market. Now we have to think about a long-term strategy. 5, 10 years The shy, exploratory period is over, now with the support of the 27 representative agencies in the EU, there is a need for a coordinated strategy between ministries and sectors. We will go more firmly", the head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development affirmed.

Mr. Hoan also emphasized three challenges for Vietnamese agriculture to reach the world. That is climate change, market fluctuations, world consumption trends. Therefore, it is necessary to remove bottlenecks in exports and have an overall strategy for exporting to the European market.

Enterprises themselves need to create an ecosystem for themselves and the local government to train farmers, not wait for the State to accumulate land...

In the ecosystem to export to Europe, it must include ministries, central branches, business community, local authorities, especially must be linked, matched with each other and through foreign advisory agencies... This is not only to sell agricultural products but is part of the Government's strategy to restore agricultural exports after the Covid pandemic.