To increase the export value of agricultural products

(Baonghean) - In recent times, agricultural product consumption has faced many challenges, agricultural, forestry and fishery product exports have decreased, affecting the total turnover of the province. Therefore, improving product competitiveness and increasing the export value of agricultural products is an issue that requires close coordination between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Industry and Trade.

Low competitiveness

Through a survey in the province, it is shown that most of the agricultural processing facilities are manual. The processed products mostly have low economic value, the brand is not strong, leading to the low competitiveness of agricultural, forestry and fishery processed products in the market. The structure of exported goods is not reasonable: most of them are semi-processed goods, there are few high-value processed industrial products, the types of exported goods are monotonous, and there are few new products with high turnover.

Although within the processing industry, the production value of agricultural, forestry and fishery processing has grown dramatically, especially in the production of food, beverages (milk); production of wood and forestry products, rubber products. The agricultural, forestry and fishery processing industry increased from 55.5% (in 2010) to 61.5% (in 2014) of the total industrial production value of the province. However, the export goods produced in Nghe An are still modest, only reaching approximately 50% of the total export turnover of goods of enterprises in the province.

Corn is imported from Laos to Nghe An.

In fact, the export of agricultural products is currently stuck in a vicious circle: There are products and areas with abundant raw materials but they are facing difficulties in processing and product output. As for products with a market, the raw material area does not meet the requirements, the scale of goods is small, and the price is high. For example, Nghe An tea has gradually achieved quality, food safety and hygiene, and the raw material area is guaranteed, but the processing stage is considered to not meet the requirements of the market, especially the European market.

Even Nghe An Tea Development One Member Co., Ltd. is a strong enterprise in tea production, processing and export in the province, but it is currently facing difficulties in organizing production, processing and consumption of products. Mr. Ho Viet An, Director of the company, said: Currently, the enterprise is facing difficulties because there is not much land left to expand the area, the tea materials are not enough to meet the processing capacity, while in the area there are many processing facilities in the same raw material area...

Peanuts are a traditional export product of Nghe An enterprises, but recently, export turnover has decreased quite sharply. In 2010, there were 10 enterprises participating in direct export with a turnover of over 3.8 million USD, to the markets of Thailand, Indonesia and China. However, in 2013, it only reached 0.143 million USD, in 2014 it reached 0.29 million USD. This year, it is not the time for export, but according to the assessment, the export situation is still mainly through unofficial channels, even though peanuts have a good harvest and good prices.

The leader of a private enterprise with experience in exporting peanuts in Dien Chau shared: At one time, Nghe An lotus peanuts were a popular brand in many markets such as Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia, but then because of the opportunistic business thinking of some households, in order to increase profits, they soaked them in water, causing poor quality products, and some shipments exported to partners germinated. In addition, the price of Nghe An peanuts is higher than other localities, and they cannot compete on price in the ASEAN market, causing us to gradually lose the market. Currently, Nghe An peanuts are mainly exported informally to China, so the price and quantity are quite passive.

Peanut classification in Dien Thinh (Dien Chau)

Or like pineapple products, when the Quynh Luu Concentrated Pineapple Juice Factory of Nafoods Group Joint Stock Company was newly established, the pineapple material area developed rapidly, however, after a period of ineffective operation, the material area was narrowed, the area of ​​raw pineapple gradually decreased. In 2010, the province's raw pineapple area was 1,275 hectares, in 2014 it decreased to 1,077 hectares. Currently, the enterprise has resumed operations but has not yet purchased all products from farmers. Pineapple growers in Tan Thang, Quynh Thang, Quynh Chau (Quynh Luu) are not happy even though the pineapple season is good, the output is from 25 - 27 tons/ha, an increase of 3 - 7 tons compared to the previous crop, but the price of pineapple is lower than last year, at times only from 350 - 400 thousand VND/quintal. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dinh, Head of the Department of Agriculture of Quynh Luu district, said that the whole district currently has nearly 600 hectares of pineapple. To limit the refrain of "good harvest, low price", the district's departments and branches are actively directing mountainous communes with pineapple intensive cultivation areas to review the entire area, and at the same time recommending that people not expand the area, causing a surplus of products and supply exceeding demand.

In addition, many export products of enterprises still depend on foreign sources such as cassava starch, rubber, rice, passion fruit raw materials, wood products) and foreign markets. Cassava and cassava starch are the second largest export product group (after wood chips) of the province, reaching 125,000 tons in 2014, an increase of 77.5%, reaching a turnover of 53 million USD, but over 70% of the turnover of this product is exploited outside the province. Similarly, rubber products are mainly exported through unofficial channels to China and 90% of the turnover of this product is collected outside the province.

Link to increase agricultural product value

The recent export of agricultural and aquatic products is very worrying, many products show signs of both surplus and shortage in supply and difficulty in improving competitiveness. Therefore, to gradually promote the development of the agricultural, forestry and aquatic product processing industry, increase the proportion of processed products and products with high added value, there are still many problems for the two sectors of Agriculture and Industry and Trade. Mr. Nguyen Van Lap, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that Nghe An has all kinds of agricultural products but they are mainly small and fragmented; processing technology has not met the requirements.

Therefore, to quickly increase the export value of agricultural products, meet the requirements of competition, apply science and technology to production and processing, it is necessary to review which products, in which direction, domestic consumption or export to have specific orientation. It is necessary to review the planning, continue to build concentrated industrial crop areas such as sugarcane, tea, cassava, rubber... to develop in the direction of commodity production to meet the raw materials for processing factories. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen management and properly implement the planning, avoid the situation of following the trend, when cassava is available, cut down sugarcane to plant cassava and vice versa. The goal by 2020 is to increase the source of goods to serve the needs of the domestic market and export.

Mr. Vo Minh Tuan, Deputy Head of Import-Export Management Department, Department of Industry and Trade, said: When the free trade agreement is implemented, besides the difficulties, there are also many opportunities for our agricultural products. Enterprises can expand their market share in the markets; benefit from some tax exemptions. However, to meet the demanding market, it is necessary to carefully study the consumption habits and tastes of customers to organize production to meet market demand. And a very important factor is to build product brands, increase the value of agricultural products.

In fact, between the two sectors of Agriculture and Industry and Trade, up to now, each sector has been "doing their own thing", there is still no close coordination in the production and consumption of agricultural products. Therefore, integration into the large market requires the sectors to "sit together" to discuss strategies for growth, linking production, processing and consumption, then economic benefits will be increased along with the benefits of businesses and farmers...

Thu Huyen