Measures sought to remove obstacles in agricultural trade

At a recent working session to prepare for the upcoming meeting of the Vietnam-China Steering Committee on bilateral cooperation, MARD Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh and Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Vu agreed that Vietnam has great advantages in exporting farm produce to China.

However, Doanh said that the current biggest barrier in the work is the changing border trade regulations of China.

Deputy Minister Vu affirmed that the Foreign Ministry will work closely with the MARD to deal with difficulties in promoting farm produce exports to China, and suggested that the two ministries increase the exchange of information and specific ideas.

The ministry will also work with the Chinese side to ask for collaboration in creating mechanisms for smooth border trade between the two countries.

Vietnam currently exports nine types of fresh fruit to China via official channels, which are dragon fruit, watermelon, lychee, longan, banana, mango, jackfruit, rambutan and mangosteen. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) is seeking authorisation for eight more agricultural products to be shipped to China via official channels. 

Data from the MARD show that the total value of import and export of agricultural, forestry and fisheries products reached US$53.2 billion in the first seven months of 2021, of which exports stood at US$28.6 billion, up 26.7% from the same period last year.

The country’s trade of agri-forestry-fisheries products with China rose by 38.8% year on year to US$8.67 billion in the first half of the year, with exports hitting over US$6.17 billion, up 35.8%.