Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam’sexports of agricultural products are expected to face more challenges by theend of the year, so enterprises must follow market developments at home andabroad and improve the quality of their products, according to experts.

Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of the VietnamChamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said Vietnam’s exports of goods,especially agro, forestry and seafood products are facing a number of obstaclesin major markets, including impacts from the US-China trade war and theEuropean Union (EU)’s “yellow card” warning against fisheries exports.

With the “yellow card”, allexported seafood products from Vietnam to the EU have had to be checked by theauthorities of the importing country. That is a big barrier for Vietnameseproducts in one of the country’s major markets.

Minister of Trade and Industry TranTuan Anh said there would be no small difficulties for Vietnam’s exports if theUS-China trade war is prolonged. By the year end, Vietnam’s exports of goodsare expected to face many challenges.

Importing countries would furtherstrengthen protection measures, food safety standards and environmentalprotection standards. Those would make it difficult for Vietnam’s exportedproducts to enter those markets.

Besides that, there is the UScatfish inspection programme, Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade(FLEGT) for wooden products and regulations on traceability in many importcountries.

Therefore, according to theMinistry of Industry and Trade, enterprises need to update market informationand improve the quality of export goods, meeting strict regulations andstandards in export markets.

The ministry said the fisheriesindustry must work hard by January 1, 2019 to remove the yellow card.

According to the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development, the national export value of agriculture,forestry and seafood products in the first six months of this year marked ayear-on-year increase of 12 percent to reach 19.4 billion USD.

Of this, the export value rose by9.7 percent for agricultural products to reach 10.3 billion USD, by 10.5 percentfor seafood products to 3.94 billion USD and by 12.7 percent for main forestryproducts to 4.33 billion USD compared to the same period last year.

Other products that recorded highexport growth in the first six months of the year included rice (up by 42 percentto 1.81 billion USD), vegetables and fruits (up by 20 percent to 2 billion USD),cashew nuts (up by 16.4 percent to 1.71 billion USD) and wood and woodenproducts (up by 12.1 percent to 4.1 billion USD).

The US and China are the twolargest export markets for Vietnam’s farm produce, especially vegetables andfruit, so the trade war between the two countries would have a big impact onsuch products in Vietnam.

Experts in the agriculturalsector said that under pressure from the US’ increase of import tariffs onChinese exports, China’s agricultural products will have to find alternativemarkets.

With great supply and cheapprice, Chinese vegetables and fruits will continue to compete with Vietnameseversions. Meanwhile, to avoid China’s high import tariff at 25 percent for USagricultural products, the US is likely to promote export agricultural productsto Vietnam, including fruit as well as meat of cattle and poultry.

The General Department of VietnamCustoms said in May, US meat imports accounted for 37 percent of the totalimport meat volume to Vietnam, becoming the largest exporter of meat to Vietnam.The US exported 11,000 tonnes to Vietnam in May, worth more than 13 million USD,a month-on-month increase of 50 percent in value.-VNS/VNA