HCM City (VNA) - Weak foodsafety compliance by agricultural product exporters has negatively impacted Vietnam’sexports to European markets, experts said at a trade policy forum, “Foodsafety: Opportunities and challenges for Vietnamese exporters,” organised inHCM City on March 30.

Nowadays, a number of countries applystandards by associations or sectors instead of national standards. Forinstance, retailers in UK,North America and Europe only consider signingcontracts with suppliers which have British Retail Consortium (BRC)certification.

In Vietnam, enterprises are under pressureto comply to national standards and other regulations. In the legal system offood safety legislation, there is one law, one decree and nearly 80 circularsof the combined three ministries. Specifically, the Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development (MARD) has issued 45 circulars, the Ministry of Health (MoH)has 20 and the Ministry of Industry and Trade has 12 circulars.

In addition, export enterprises find itdifficult to comply with regulations not in the law. For example, the foodsafety compliance regulations in the Decree 38/2012/ND-CP dated April 25, 2012is not included in the Food Safety Law. Exporters must not only meet therequirements of the exporting country but also meet Vietnamese standards.

According to Nguyen Hoang Linh, deputydirector of Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality, Ministry ofScience and Technology, these regulations waste a lot of operating expenses forbusinesses.

Speaking at the forum, Miriam Garci’aFerrer, Commercial Counsellor of the European Union Delegation in Vietnam, saidthere are some businesses struggling to comply with food safety regulations,creating a bad reputation for Vietnam’s agricultural exports and affectingother firms.

Currently, many Vietnamese agriculturalproducts are not the top choice of European consumers. For example, consumersare willing to buy Colombian coffee even though it is more expensive thanVietnamese coffee. The reason is that coffee products from Columbiahave a clear label, origin and package, while Vietnam coffee is mixed withdifferent types.

“Another example is the export of basafish. Carrefour, a popular French multinational retailer, and some othersupermarket chains have stopped selling this product from Vietnam not only dueto sanitary problems but also the issues of sustainable farming andenvironmental treatment,” Miriam said.

Facing these ugly truths, Vietnam shouldfocus on following the regulations and standards to be able to export goodsinto Europe and take advantages of benefits when the European and Vietnam FreeTrade Agreement (EVFTA) comes into effect.

Do Kim Lang, deputy director general ofTrade Promotion Agency, Ministry of Industry and Trade, director of ExportCompetitiveness Enhancement Programme for small- and medium-sized enterprises,noted that recent pesticide and antibiotic violations have caused seriousexport consequences. The direct consequence is that importers return goods andcountries increase control measures. More significantly, the national image isaffected negatively.

"There are some businesses doingwell, however, the general level of the enterprises is not good, which devaluesthe brand name of Vietnam’s products, thereby decreasing commodityprices", Lang said.-VNA