Vietnamese firms should take advantage of a market opportunity to stepup export of agricultural products, rice in particular, to Africa, theMiddle East and South Asia , a senior official said.
LyQuoc Hung, head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's African, WestAsian and South Asian Markets Department, was addressing a seminar inHCM City on Dec.23.
The UAE market has imported riceworth 1.3 billion USD last year, mainly from Thailand . However, theoutput of Thai rice has decreased in the 2011-12 crop because of naturaldisasters, leading to inadequate supply and high export prices, hesaid.
"It is a good opportunity for us to occupy a larger proportion of such markets next year", he added.
Rice is still Vietnam 's biggest export item to Africa andBangladesh , accounting for more than 16 percent of the total exportturnover last year, followed by seafood, textile and garments,electronic and electrical products.
Hung noted that in thenext five years, rice will remain the key export item because of greatdemand in many African countries. Every year, African countries importan average of more than 8 million tonnes of rice.
MostAfrican and Middle Eastern nations lack developed agricultural sectorsfor various reasons, so demand for staple grains is high. A rising trendin using seafood to replace meat in daily meals in African and MiddleEastern markets has increased demand for these products as well.
This demand presents a valuable opportunity for Vietnamese businessesto intensify exports and undertake research in the aquaculture potentialof these countries to serve exports to neighbouring countries.
Meanwhile, some other items accounte for a large chunk of the exportturnover to African, Middle East and South Asian markets. Theseinclude coffee, pepper, cashew, coconut and basa catfish, Hung said.
Apart from agricultural items, the export of gold and precious stonesto the African market has increased sharply since 2010, particularly toSouth Africa .
The mobile phone is a new export itemfor Vietnam , but it is one of the items with high turnover. Thisbusiness is done primarily by FDI businesses in the country.
For the Middle Eastern market, textile and garments, footwear,household appliances and construction material are items of highinterest, he said.
Hung also warned the Vietnameseexporter about taxation barriers, especially anti-dumping taxes intrade, especially in India and Turkey . Because it has a largemarket share, Vietnam should keep a close eye on warning systems inthese countries to timely prevent trade lawsuits that can have negativeimpacts on bilateral trade relations, he said.
Anotherdifficulty faced by Vietnamese exporters is in securing payment.Vietnamese businesses should ensure payment through advance deposits oropening a letter of credit with prestigious banks because of manyinstances of fraud in the African, Middle Eastern and South Asianmarkets, Hung said.
To speed up exports to these regions,Vietnam needs to pay attention to product quality and design, toensure that they are in accordance with market demand and technicalregulations.
To fully tap the export growth potential inSouth Asia, Vietnam should take opportunities presented through theIndia-ASEAN free trade agreement. It will also consider signingpreferential trade agreements with Sri Lanka to expand export to thenew market and develop new export items for Bangladesh and Pakistan, Hung said./.
LyQuoc Hung, head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's African, WestAsian and South Asian Markets Department, was addressing a seminar inHCM City on Dec.23.
The UAE market has imported riceworth 1.3 billion USD last year, mainly from Thailand . However, theoutput of Thai rice has decreased in the 2011-12 crop because of naturaldisasters, leading to inadequate supply and high export prices, hesaid.
"It is a good opportunity for us to occupy a larger proportion of such markets next year", he added.
Rice is still Vietnam 's biggest export item to Africa andBangladesh , accounting for more than 16 percent of the total exportturnover last year, followed by seafood, textile and garments,electronic and electrical products.
Hung noted that in thenext five years, rice will remain the key export item because of greatdemand in many African countries. Every year, African countries importan average of more than 8 million tonnes of rice.
MostAfrican and Middle Eastern nations lack developed agricultural sectorsfor various reasons, so demand for staple grains is high. A rising trendin using seafood to replace meat in daily meals in African and MiddleEastern markets has increased demand for these products as well.
This demand presents a valuable opportunity for Vietnamese businessesto intensify exports and undertake research in the aquaculture potentialof these countries to serve exports to neighbouring countries.
Meanwhile, some other items accounte for a large chunk of the exportturnover to African, Middle East and South Asian markets. Theseinclude coffee, pepper, cashew, coconut and basa catfish, Hung said.
Apart from agricultural items, the export of gold and precious stonesto the African market has increased sharply since 2010, particularly toSouth Africa .
The mobile phone is a new export itemfor Vietnam , but it is one of the items with high turnover. Thisbusiness is done primarily by FDI businesses in the country.
For the Middle Eastern market, textile and garments, footwear,household appliances and construction material are items of highinterest, he said.
Hung also warned the Vietnameseexporter about taxation barriers, especially anti-dumping taxes intrade, especially in India and Turkey . Because it has a largemarket share, Vietnam should keep a close eye on warning systems inthese countries to timely prevent trade lawsuits that can have negativeimpacts on bilateral trade relations, he said.
Anotherdifficulty faced by Vietnamese exporters is in securing payment.Vietnamese businesses should ensure payment through advance deposits oropening a letter of credit with prestigious banks because of manyinstances of fraud in the African, Middle Eastern and South Asianmarkets, Hung said.
To speed up exports to these regions,Vietnam needs to pay attention to product quality and design, toensure that they are in accordance with market demand and technicalregulations.
To fully tap the export growth potential inSouth Asia, Vietnam should take opportunities presented through theIndia-ASEAN free trade agreement. It will also consider signingpreferential trade agreements with Sri Lanka to expand export to thenew market and develop new export items for Bangladesh and Pakistan, Hung said./.
