Hanoi (VNA) – A conference washeld in Hanoi on September 13 to seek ways to boost sustainable exports ofagricultural and aquatic products to China.

According to Deputy Director of the Agency ofForeign Trade under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) Tran Thanh Hai,Vietnam’s agro-aquatic product export turnover in the first eight months of2019 was estimated at 16.6 billion USD, down 7.2 percent year-on-year.

Notably, export growth to China has slowed downsignificantly in the recent time due to China’s intensifying implementation ofregulations from mid-2018 on tracing the origin of products, inspecting thequarantine of plants and animals and the quality of imported agricultural andaquatic goods, Hai said.

He added that Vietnam will meet difficulties inexporting such products to China amid fluctuations of regional and globalmarkets such as the decline in China’s domestic demand and the impact ofChina-US trade conflict.

Moreover, China is strictly enforcingregulations on the import of agricultural and aquatic products on the landborder areas through measures to strengthen supervision of traceability,packaging, and food safety and hygiene, Hai noted.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anhsaid difficulties in exporting to China have existed for many years althoughministries and businesses have made great efforts to resolve them. However, atthis time, it must be changed because China has increasingly applied barriersand high and strict requirements related to product quality, food safety,traceability and brand building.

According to Minister of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Nguyen Xuan Cuong, China has applied one official trade form forexports and imports from June 1, rather than various forms of import andexport, including border trade, which is the main way Vietnamese products reachChina.

Besides, China also has had a change inmanagement, in which all procedures of import and export will be solved by theGeneral Department of Customs, Cuong said, adding that if businesses don'tcatch up and transform in time, they will be landed in an embarrassingsituation.

Le Hoang Oanh, Director of the MoIT’sAsia-Africa Market Department, recommended businesses focus on productionaccording to plans, which must be based on demand, market capacity and season.

Besides, it was necessary to promote nationaltrade promotion programmes in China, building distribution and consumptionchannels in the country, she added.

Oanh suggested focusing on official exports tocut legal risks as well as gradually building brands and improving quality,safety and product design, meeting requirements on packaging, labels,traceability, factory registration and growing areas.

Vietnam and China have signed the ASEAN-ChinaFree Trade Agreement (ACFTA), which came into effect in 2010, with tariffsreduced to zero for 8,000 product lines. It has great potential for Vietnameseagricultural and aquatic products to be exported to China./.