Russia aims to boost bilateral trade with Vietnam in the field of agricultural products, said Mr. Maxim Golikov – Head representative of Russia Commercial Department in Vietnam. Additionally, a ban on importing fruits imposed by EU also pushes Russia to Asian suppliers.
In particular, list of import goods which are in high demand includes tomato, potato, apple, vegetables, shrimp, fish fillet, wood, catfish, basa fish, tea, coffee, tea, vegetables fruit, pepper, cashew, rubber, cashews… and other fruits.
Since tension grows between EU and Russia, Vietnamese enterprises have good opportunities to approach Russia market, Golikov revealed. As statistic of the Import-Export Department, the number of Vietnamese agricultural enterprises operating in Russia has been increasing.
Vietnam has qualified fishery and agricultural products that meet Russia’s requirement but it is still difficult to penetrate this market, said Mr. Nguyen Binh Giang, the Import-Export Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Particularly, high tax rate and long-time transportation were obstacles that reduce competitive advantages of Vietnamese agricultural and fishery products; tight technology barriers, difficulty in RUB to VND conversion and payment method under 20-30% deposit term also restrain Vietnamese products to Russia market and push Vietnamese enterprises into debts.
Therefore, Giang proposed that Russia side approves the list of Vietnamese enterprises eligible for exporting fishery-forestry-agricultural products into Russia issued by the Import-Export Department.
Russia Commerce Department shall submit recommendations from Vietnamese side to Russian Government for resolutions and facilitation of RUB to VND conversion, Golikov said.
The Import – Export Department believes that exporting Vietnamese agricultural products into Russia shall not be stuck thanks to high demand from this market.
However, post-harvest process in Vietnam is still not developed when added value earned is much lower than potential. In specific, agricultural products exported to Russia accounts for only 1.6% of the total agriculture exports.
According to experts, Vietnam must improve the post-harvest process and enhance collaboration between enterprises and the Government so as to increase agriculture export to Russia. In which, the Government shall support enterprises via trade promotion opportunities and policies to bolster export.
In addition, Vietnamese enterprises must also propose and participate in making state policies so that the Government can deeply understand the demand, difficulty and advantage of enterprises, market information so as to issue appropriate policies.
Vietnamese source: xttm.mard.gov.vn