How to not depend on the Chinese market?

(Baonghean) - Nghe An is a locality with great potential for agricultural and forestry products; the agricultural and forestry processing industry for export has grown strongly, promoting production and bringing in significant revenue. However, in the face of recent market fluctuations, this industry is facing many difficulties and shortcomings.

According to the statistics of the Department of Statistics and the Department of Industry and Trade of Nghe An, in the first 6 months of 2014, the export value of goods in the province was estimated at 163.7 million USD, an increase of 12.22% compared to the same period in 2013. Some main products with export turnover increased significantly compared to the same period last year: vegetables and fruits increased by 357.69%; coffee increased by 169.95%; pepper increased by 282.95%; textiles increased by 127.51%; wooden products increased by 8.4 times; children's toys increased by 104.45%. However, some agricultural products and processed food exports decreased compared to the same period last year.

Handicrafts, wood chips, etc. all decreased in both quantity and value compared to the same period in 2013. Molasses exports decreased sharply, from 15,144 tons in the first 6 months of 2013 to 8,310 tons in the first 6 months of this year. In particular, in the first 6 months of the year, some products such as: rice, rubber, purple onions, dried garlic, peanuts, plastic products could not be exported. Through the structure of the industry and export data, it can be seen that agricultural and forestry products for export are mainly exported raw, or in the form of preliminary processing, with low sustainability; deeply processed products still account for a low proportion. This shows that the production process associated with processing agricultural and forestry products for export still has many limitations.

The main reason is that Nghe An's agricultural and forestry processing industry is mostly small in scale; infrastructure, machinery and equipment are outdated compared to developed countries; human resources and management capacity are still limited. Therefore, processed products are mainly in the form of preliminary processing (such as wood chips, rubber latex, etc.), and are almost unable to produce final products for the market. Some products have high levels of banned chemical residues. On the other hand, some industries have unstable raw material areas, which cannot meet the capacity of machinery and export requirements. From that reality, export products find it difficult to meet the strict criteria of markets such as the US, Japan and the EU, but mainly only penetrate relatively easy-going markets with less strict quality requirements, the largest of which is the Chinese market. However, over-reliance on the Chinese market leads to low stability in production and business when this market fluctuates.

The above reality has raised the urgent need to strongly innovate the production and processing of agricultural and forestry products for export. This is also the general trend in the current development law. However, to meet the needs of export markets, especially markets outside China such as the US and EU, businesses need many factors. The important thing is still the capital problem, the second is the raw material area and other requirements for human resources, technology... ". The above problem is not simple, however, if the enterprise is really determined, combined with the effective participation of the authorities, finding a solution is not impossible. First of all, it is necessary to do a good job of planning the development of the processing industry associated with the raw material area, ensuring sufficient supply of raw materials for the processing industry, meeting the scale of machinery and market demand. Second, the work of advertising, trade promotion, finding investment partners, and product consumption is also very important. To develop the agricultural and forestry processing industry for export, it is necessary to thoroughly understand the market, find partners with capacity and sustainable demand, with long-term perspective. From the requirements of the export market, there are appropriate methods of organizing production and consumption.

On the other hand, to develop sustainably, it is inevitable that the agricultural and forestry processing industry for export must find a way to escape its dependence on the Chinese market, aiming at markets with more stringent requirements on product quality such as Japan, the US and the EU. To do so, the agricultural and forestry processing industry for export must have breakthrough changes in scale, technology, human resources, and management to create high-quality, environmentally friendly products. This is a huge requirement and challenge, but also an opportunity for the agricultural and forestry processing industry for export to have a new step of development, creating positive effects in terms of economy - society - science and technology, technology, approaching the common development level with localities in the country with developed industries and internationally.

Quang Dai