Vietnamese agricultural products capture demanding markets

Although logistics has seen several difficulties in the last two years as a result of Covid-19's impact, the growth rate of over 15% is a positive and encouraging statistic for future export potential.

Vietnam's agricultural products have met strict quality requirements. Photo:  Pham Hieu.

Vietnam's agricultural goods meet international standards

Mr. Tran Phuong Minh, director of Thagri, underlined the enormous potential of the Vietnamese market at an online conference on "Connecting winter-crop vegetable consumption for Red River Delta regions" hosted by MARD on November 20.

Although logistics has seen several difficulties in the last two years as a result of Covid-19's impact, the growth rate of over 15% is a positive and encouraging statistic for future export potential.

Additionally, Minh said that Vietnamese agricultural goods meet stringent quality, pesticide residue, and other standards imposed by importing countries, especially the demanding market of the European Union...

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Na, director of Ecovi ecological agriculture joint-stock company, both local and international demand for ecological agriculture is increasing. Ecovi's representative said that the unit would continue to support farmers and engage with enterprises and cooperatives to develop ecological agriculture.

"Ecovi is assisting many farming families in Hoa Binh in converting 200 hectares of land to ecological orange planting following VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards. However, the shift is difficult and must be undertaken little by little," Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Na said.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Diem Hang, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nutrimart, said during the conference that the quality of agricultural goods from farming households has improved.

"However, our agricultural goods remain underdeveloped in terms of pre-processing and packaging, owing to the small number of these facilities. From my many years of expertise in exporting and retailing, I believe that localities should spend more in pre-processing, packing, or improving the depth of processing to fulfill buyer criteria," Ms. Nguyen Thi Diem Hang evaluated.

Local governments, according to Nutrimart officials, might explore and consider bringing preliminary processing and packaging techniques to the cooperative level, therefore assisting farmers at this point. Ms. Hang pledges that when the system of preliminary processing and packaging is completed, Nutrimart will prioritize items produced by small and medium-sized production systems, as well as cooperatives and farmer families, in terms of product consumption.

Capitalizing on chances to promote the domestic market

Mr. Le Van Liem, Manager of Saigon Co.op's Northern Area, highlighted five ways to boost agricultural product consumption in the domestic market. As such, the solutions include information and propaganda; linking companies to consumer markets; enhancing company competitiveness; implementing initiatives to promote the use of Vietnamese products; and participating in market stabilization.

According to Mr. Liem, at over 1,000 places of sale across the Saigon Co.op system, Vietnamese goods account for 100 percent of vegetables and fruits. The system utilizes around 500 tons of agricultural goods every day. With customers increasingly moving away from traditional marketplaces and into supermarkets, this presents a chance for Vietnamese agricultural goods to gain a foothold in the home market.

In recent years, Saigon Co.op has concentrated its efforts in the northern provinces, particularly the Red River Delta provinces, on procuring winter agricultural goods directly from the area. organically or via major regional cooperatives to supply the market in three areas.

Mr. Le Van Liem, in his capacity as distributor, established four standards for agricultural goods. To begin, items must be rigorously regulated in terms of food quality and safety, design, and technological safety requirements.

Second, the product must be governed by local norms and manufactured by VietGAP, GlobalGAP, and organic standards. Thirdly, we use advanced agricultural technological procedures, such as post-harvest preservation, preparatory processing, and packaging, which enables consumers to readily track the origin of their food. Fourthly, there is a relationship between growing areas that allow for the determination of supply capacity and consuming markets, allowing for the development of an appropriate production plan.

Saigon Co.op has a distribution warehouse in Bac Ninh for the purpose of facilitating the flow of commodities across areas. Each year, the supermarket system also links to eat over 1,000 tons of vegetables and fruits like as carrots, potatoes, kohlrabi, cabbage, and winter green vegetables from provinces.