AGRICULTURAL EXPORT MARKETS DIVERSIFY

Vietnam is stepping up efforts to boost agricultural exports as it seeks to diversify its overseas markets and deepen economic ties with key partners.

During a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 150th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Uzbekistan last week, Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man met with Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China Losang Jamcan.

Agricultural export markets diversify, photo Le Toan

Chairman Man proposed that China further open its market to Vietnamese goods, particularly agricultural and seafood products, highlighting the need to implement large-scale, symbolic projects that reflect the growing cooperation between the two nations.

The Chinese official added that China was willing to import high-quality products from Vietnam, including agricultural products, and hoped that Vietnam would send delegations to participate in China’s import-export fairs, including the ASEAN-China Expo.

China agreed to import products from 11 dairy plants and nine bird nest enterprises in Vietnam. China also approved the import of 48 types of live aquatic species and 128 processed seafood products, and approximately 600 Vietnamese seafood enterprises are licensed to export to its market.

In terms of other markets, Vu Ba Phu, director general of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, told local media in Hanoi on April 4 that the agency was collaborating with ministries, sectors, localities, and agricultural industry associations to focus on key tasks to boost the consumption of relevant products.

“The agency will continue to closely coordinate with the Vietnamese trade offices abroad and international trade promotion organisations to support businesses in participating in major trade fairs such as Fruit Logistica Berlin, Biofach, and Foodex Japan. These events help businesses secure contracts and enhance the position of Vietnamese agricultural products in the global market,” Phu said.

The agency will continue to work with major retail corporations such as Walmart, AEON, Lotte, and Central Group to organise Vietnamese Goods Week programmes in these markets.

“This is a good opportunity for Vietnamese agricultural products to add more international consumers, expand market outlets, and increase export value. The agency will try to improve the efficiency of negotiations, market opening, trade promotion, and addressing trade-related issues,” said Phu.

In its 2025 action plan signed in early April, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment outlined a key solution: developing a market classification system to set export targets by sub-sector and region, with a focus on high-potential markets. The plan also includes preparing detailed market reports and responding to changes in taxes, origin rules, and technical standards in key destinations such as the US, EU, and China.

The analysis of each product will be linked to the demands of the importing markets. For example, Japan, China, and the EU are targeted markets for wood products; China, Japan, the EU, and South Korea are targeted for aquatic products; while cashew nuts are exported to the EU, China, UAE, and the UK. Regardless of the market, quality, design, and standards must be standardised at the highest level to avoid dependence on any single market.

The potential to expand export markets is clear. Enhancing productivity and quality while reducing costs to improve competitiveness and access more markets is a necessity. However, to achieve this, the business community needs support and policies to bolster the competitiveness of goods, collaborating with state management agencies to expand export markets.

Nguyen Van Muoi, deputy secretary-general of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, said that most of Vietnam’s agricultural products were exported fresh or minimally processed, resulting in large export volumes but low-value and high risks when markets fluctuate or policies on taxes change. Therefore, businesses are waiting for mechanisms to encourage them to invest in deep processing,

“The incentive policies encourage businesses to invest in science and technology for deep processing to increase the value of exported agricultural products and arrange raw material zones linked to processing plants to reduce production and logistics costs. This is especially critical as many businesses currently have factories located far from raw material zones – for example, raw materials are grown in Dak Nong province, but factories are in Ho Chi Minh City, and the southern provinces of Long An and Binh Duong.

Currently, the country has 51,000 enterprises related to the processing industry, but only 7,500 facilities and enterprises process on an industrial scale, and in the fruit and vegetable sector, only 150 enterprises use high-tech processing.

“Meanwhile, transportation costs are very high, so businesses need to plan raw material zones linked to production plants. There are large raw material zones without nearby factories, leaving businesses vulnerable in securing production materials. This is also an opportunity to reorganise raw material zones and factories to reduce transportation costs,” Muoi said.

Nguyen Tri Ngoc, vice chairman of the Vietnam Fertiliser Association, argued that amending the Law on Standards and Technical Regulations and the Law on Product and Goods Quality is crucial, as these are two foundational laws.

“We have consistently advocated for the abolition of conformity certification and conformity announcements as these procedures are unnecessary, overlapping, and have burdened us for years. Maintaining them means indebting the country, businesses, and more than 10 million farming households,” Ngoc said.

Source: VIR