Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh spoke to Thoi BaoKinh Te Vietnam (Vietnam Economic Times) about ways to prevent producefrom being stuck at border gates.
Q: Why is it so difficult for many of our agricultural products to find markets?
Our agriculture production tends to be based on short seasons,therefore the harvesting and sale of produce last for only a short time.
Thesituation might arise when we harvest more than we can sell. This hashappened to products such as rice, rubber and fruit, which has leftfarmers vulnerable to changes in the market. In addition, we have notdone well in helping farmers sell their goods.
In the past threeyears, the world market for farm products has also experienced manyprice fluctuations. Besides, the economic recession in many parts of theworld and recovery efforts affect the demand of agricultural products.Some of our strong export products such as rice, rubber, coffee haveexperienced many troubles in the world market. There is also strongcompetition among export countries and this will continue.
Q:Border trade is considered the right way to promote sales of farmproducts. Therefore, why have we let border problems continue for manyyears?
As part of trade relations between China and Vietnam,enterprises from both countries have signed many agreements andcontracts based on international rules and regulations.
Everyyear, we export about two million tonnes of rice to China throughofficial channels, about one million tonnes of rice and 100,000-130,000tonnes of watermelon under small-scale trade.
However, bordertrade or small-scale trade does carry many risks, because they tend tobe without contracts, use cash only and are conducted on the basis ofcash and delivery.
Therefore it's difficult to monitor theseactivities, especially in terms of customs procedures and tradingactivities at the border.
It's true there are limitations forsmall-scale trade, but businesses from both sides still want to use thismethod to enter Chinese markets.
We know that every year ourfarm products get stuck at border gate and farmers can suffer heavylosses if they can't sell their products to Chinese traders. To preventthis, the Industry and Trade Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry aretrying to find ways to minimise the losses for everyone.
Q: To limit products from being sold through small-scale channels, what has the Trade Ministry been doing?
To prevent agricultural products from being stuck at the border gate,the Trade Ministry has been implementing many solutions and we'llorganise a conference on May 10 to assess the situation.
Besides,we have increased efforts in market research to monitor information,data, and other information. Therefore, we can come up with betterdirection for production, harvesting and exporting for upcomingseasons.-VNA
Q: Why is it so difficult for many of our agricultural products to find markets?
Our agriculture production tends to be based on short seasons,therefore the harvesting and sale of produce last for only a short time.
Thesituation might arise when we harvest more than we can sell. This hashappened to products such as rice, rubber and fruit, which has leftfarmers vulnerable to changes in the market. In addition, we have notdone well in helping farmers sell their goods.
In the past threeyears, the world market for farm products has also experienced manyprice fluctuations. Besides, the economic recession in many parts of theworld and recovery efforts affect the demand of agricultural products.Some of our strong export products such as rice, rubber, coffee haveexperienced many troubles in the world market. There is also strongcompetition among export countries and this will continue.
Q:Border trade is considered the right way to promote sales of farmproducts. Therefore, why have we let border problems continue for manyyears?
As part of trade relations between China and Vietnam,enterprises from both countries have signed many agreements andcontracts based on international rules and regulations.
Everyyear, we export about two million tonnes of rice to China throughofficial channels, about one million tonnes of rice and 100,000-130,000tonnes of watermelon under small-scale trade.
However, bordertrade or small-scale trade does carry many risks, because they tend tobe without contracts, use cash only and are conducted on the basis ofcash and delivery.
Therefore it's difficult to monitor theseactivities, especially in terms of customs procedures and tradingactivities at the border.
It's true there are limitations forsmall-scale trade, but businesses from both sides still want to use thismethod to enter Chinese markets.
We know that every year ourfarm products get stuck at border gate and farmers can suffer heavylosses if they can't sell their products to Chinese traders. To preventthis, the Industry and Trade Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry aretrying to find ways to minimise the losses for everyone.
Q: To limit products from being sold through small-scale channels, what has the Trade Ministry been doing?
To prevent agricultural products from being stuck at the border gate,the Trade Ministry has been implementing many solutions and we'llorganise a conference on May 10 to assess the situation.
Besides,we have increased efforts in market research to monitor information,data, and other information. Therefore, we can come up with betterdirection for production, harvesting and exporting for upcomingseasons.-VNA
