Vietnamese agricultural products have wide export opportunities

Specifically, for markets such as the US, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, 1,150 growing area codes and 41 packing facility codes have been granted. For the Chinese market alone, 1,742 growing area codes for more than 180,000 hectares and 1,840 packing facility codes for 9 types of fresh fruit have been licensed for official export.

Safe agricultural products are sold at supermarkets in Vinh City. Photo: Quang An

Accordingly, the growing area assigned a code must meet the following requirements: Identifying the growing area (usually using a GPS positioning system); applying practicesagricultureGood, in which, focus on recording farming diaries to trace the origin of products when competent authorities inspect; regularly monitor the situation of harmful organisms; implement good field hygiene and farming measures; ensure that there are no pesticide residues exceeding the permitted threshold according to the regulations of the importing country...

These things, on the one hand, aim to meet the requirements of import partners, and on the other hand, are of great value in enhancing the reputation of Vietnamese agricultural products in the international market.

Therefore, in recent years, localities have focused resources on implementation, while actively promoting so that farmers and businesses clearly understand the meaning and importance of granting growing area codes and packaging facility codes.

As in the Mekong Delta provinces, every year the market is supplied with a large quantity of fruit for export and domestic consumption, so export enterprises have proactively selected raw material areas by linking with growing areas that have been assigned codes to maintain stability and improve the quality of agricultural products.

In addition, many provinces in the North have accelerated the process of granting growing area codes for many specialty fruits to increase added value. Thanks to that, in 2020, many fruits have beenofficial exportto quality markets with prices many times higher than before, such as lychee exported to Japan, longan exported to Australia, dragon fruit exported to the US... These results have contributed to bringing the export turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products of our country in 2020 to a record level of 41.25 billion USD in the context of the agricultural sector facing many challenges due to natural disasters and epidemics.

In the coming time, along with taking advantage of the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) which has been in effect since August 2020 and other signed agreements, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP); Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UKVFTA), the issuance of growing area codes and packaging facility codes will be further promoted, so that Vietnamese agricultural products can enter large markets with preferential tax rates. This is also a new opportunity for our country's agricultural sector to accelerate and further strengthen the full compliance with standards for many products, accelerating exports from the first months of 2021 to realize the goal of exporting agricultural, forestry and fishery products to reach a turnover of 42 billion USD for the whole year.