Vietnam-EU trade to grow further

The agreement, whose negotiations concluded December 2015 in Brussels, is expected to increase Vietnam’s export to the EU by 4-6 percent per year, said Tran Ngoc Quan, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s European Markets Department. 

Around 90 tariff lines applied to products of Vietnamese and EU origins will decrease to a very low level or even zero percent for some Vietnam’s exports to the EU like garment & textile, footwear, food, farm produce and seafood, he said. 

However, he noted that the EU attaches importance to transparency and protection of consumers’ interests via a number of protection measures. Products eligible to be shipped to the bloc must be socially responsible and environmentally friendly. 

Trinh Thi Thu Hien, head of the origin of goods from the ministry’s Export-Import Department, said the rule of origin is an important content of the EVFTA, helping enterprises take advantage of incentives in tariff. 

She stressed the need for timely and regular training for businesses so that they can actively update information to meet the European markets’ strict requirements on the certificate of origin.

According to Ta Hoang Linh, deputy head of the ministry’s Trade Promotion Agency, said Vietnam-EU trade has increased 10-fold since 1990, hitting US$41.4 billion in 2015. 

In the first six months of 2016, the figure reached US$21.2 billion, up 9.35 percent from the same period last year. Of which, Vietnam’s export to the EU was US$16.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9.5 percent