Viet Nam asked to enhance quality of farm produce to enter choosy markets

Hanoi (VNA) – Although export revenue of agricultural products has grown in recent years to more than 40 billion USD, experts have said the figure may rise higher if Vietnamese farm produce can meet the technical standards of import markets, especially developed ones.

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

After nearly 10 years of negotiation, in February 2019, Vietnamese mango was officially accepted into the US market, becoming the sixth fruit eligible to be sent to the market along with dragon fruit, litchee, longan, rambutan and star apple.

The US is the second biggest importer of Vietnam, after China, with a revenue of 126 million USD in 2018. More importantly, this is a choosy market with the strictest technical requirements in the world. Therefore, conquering this market would mean Vietnamese agricultural products could more easily enter other high-end markets.

Vietnam is now the 15th biggest exporter of agricultural products, but many experts have said the growth of the sector remains unsustainable.

On average, only 5 percent of Vietnamese farm produce are exported to picky markets such as the US, Europe, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Therefore, when cross-border export faces stagnant, Vietnam will fall into high stock and drop in price of agricultural products.

Experts said that Vietnamese farmers and exporters have yet to actively approach GlobalGAP standards at the beginning, or failed in realizing commitments after receiving the certificates.

They advised Vietnam to standardise and improve the quality of agricultural products through strictly following VietGAP, HACCP and GlobalGAP standards from sewing to harvesting.

At the same time, it is necessary to invest more in packaging, design and trademark registration and implement origin regulations, thus improving the value of Vietnamese farm produce.

Experts also stressed the need to support trade promotion activities by giving more market information and connecting domestic firms with foreign partners, and introducing Vietnamese products in the global market.

They said that if comprehensive measures are deployed, the target of 43 billion USD in exports of farm produce is reachable.