Hanoi (VNA) – A meeting heldby the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on March 9 pointed out the urgent need to shift from unofficial and small-scale shipment to export throughofficial channels to China.

Minister Le Minh Hoan stressed thatshifting from unofficial to official export is a revolution needing persistence,willingness, and readiness of the entire production and trading systems.

Nguyen Quoc Toan, Director of theMARD’s Agro Processing and Market Development Authority, said China, one of thelargest importers of Vietnamese products, is tightening control over thecommodities not exported via official channels. Given this, some agricultural productsof Vietnam like durian and passion fruit, which have long been shipped throughborder crossings by border residents, are now unable to enter this market.

Director of the Huy Long An Co. LtdVo Quan Huy pointed out that China has been standardising imports, but Vietnamesebusinesses seem to be not ready yet.

Though Vietnam possesses many productsin demand in China, to successfully export to this market, enterprises need toimprove their business measures to meet the importer’s requirements, he noted.

Dinh Cao Khue, Chairman of the DongGiao Foodstuff Export JSC (DOVECO), underlined the need to shift to official exportas soon as possible since every trading issue will become transparent at thattime.

He called on the MARD to coordinatewith the Ministry of Home Affairs to consolidate business associations as some ofthem are working ineffectively and haven’t grasped market information.

Meanwhile, Vice Secretary General of the Vietnam Association of SeafoodExporters and Producers (VASEP) Nguyen Hoai Nam noted China is a large marketwith strict requirements, so the management of export quality should besystematic like the way Vietnam is exporting goods to such markets as the EUand Japan.

He also recommended the sectors be involved and the role of ministries, businesses, and localities beidentified so as to help companies access information.

Besides, it is necessary to investmore in farm produce preservation, and the State should issue favourable landand capital policies to attract investment to this field, Nam added.

Agro-forestry-fishery trade between Vietnam and China reached 12.6 billion USDin 2021, up 18.39 percent year on year. It stood at over 1.83 billion USD inthe first two months of 2022, down 1.7 percent, including 1.3 billion USD in Vietnam’sexports (down 7.4 percent) and 515 million USD in imports from China (up 16.6percent), according to the MARD./.