According to China Customs statistics, the total import and export turnover between Vietnam and China reached US$30.3 billion in the first two months of 2023, down 5.3% from the same period last year.

Vietnam’s export turnover to China reached US$11.57 billion, down 4%; Vietnam’s import sales from China reached US$18.69 billion, down 6.1%.

In February alone, the two countries’ imports and exports reached US$15.33 billion, up 20.7% over the same period.

ISSUES MANY MEASURES TO MONITOR IMPORTED GOODS

Nong Duc Lai, Vietnam’s trade adviser in China, said as scheduled at a trade promotion briefing with Vietnam’s overseas trade bureau system on March 31 that China’s macro policy will promote the country’s import and export activities, provide a stable base and improve the quality of import and exports.

Therefore, in recent years, in addition to the policy of improving the quality control of goods (especially agricultural, aquatic and food products), China Customs has constantly improved the management mechanism as well as the issuance of legal documents.

It is forecast that the management and supervision of the import of this product group into the Chinese market by the country’s management agency will be further tightened to create an open environment for import and export activities in a sustainable manner.

The Vietnam Trade Office in China added that consumer demand of this market is gradually recovering since the country eased epidemic prevention measures and reopened.

After China lifted some restrictive measures due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the clearance situation between Vietnam-China border crossings has basically stabilized.

However, there are still some limitations, such as

In addition, China has focused on expanding domestic demand, giving priority to recovery and expansion of consumption, and continuously issued many policies focused on developing the “domestic circular economy”. Therefore, goods exported to China by countries including Vietnam will face strong competition from domestic goods of that country.

In particular, the Chinese customs have recently continuously adopted measures to limit and strengthen the fight against diseases that are spreading in the world (such as monkeypox, African swine fever, bird flu…).

“It can be seen that China is very strong in preventing the spread of epidemics in the country with very strict measures such as banning the import of entire categories of goods and suspending the entire export status of companies registered with customs when exporting to China ‘ Mr Lai stressed.

In addition, Vietnamese goods, especially agricultural products, will have to compete with partners exporting to China in the near future, especially the group of agricultural products of the same kind. compete with the goods and products produced in this country.

In addition, people’s standard of living is constantly increasing, the quality requirements for imported goods in general and agricultural products and food in particular are constantly being improved. Therefore, the rate of displacement from the Chinese market is relatively high when companies cannot meet the increasingly sophisticated demands of the market.

Mr. Lai said the number of Vietnamese goods warned by China is increasing. In 2021, Vietnam ranked 4th, in 2022 the rate of warned shipments ranked 2nd. This situation has affected the reputation and brand of Vietnamese goods, and negatively affected the psychology of Chinese consumers.

CONTINUOUSLY INCREASE THE QUALITY OF THE GOODS

Given the situation in the Chinese market in the early months of this year, Mr. Lai recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Health and communities, especially communities with border areas, strengthen inspection and control of domestic animals and plants diseases and prevent, that diseases enter the country from outside to ensure that products exported to other markets are not affected, as well as negotiations on opening up the market for new products.

It is recommended that functional units under the relevant ministries and agencies and inspection and regulatory bodies issue commodity certificates to study the relevant regulations under Regulation 259 and the requirements for each type of commodity. Consider and register with the General Administration of Customs of China to create favorable conditions for exporting Vietnamese goods to the Chinese market in the near future.

On the company side, it is recommended to conduct surveys and further research on the potential of the processed food industry and consumption trends for this industry, looking for supply chain opportunities and cooperation with companies in the host country.

As China has reopened and travel between the two countries is no longer an obstacle, consultant Nong Duc Lai recommended that functional units and companies study and organize business delegations to study the market and organize trade activities in places where this is the case not the case was fully utilized by us in recent years such as: Hunan, Hubei, Shandong or Beijing – economic belt Tianjin – Hebei…

Companies that want to expand their markets and seize the market space of the market need to methodically prepare and research the market before officially bringing their goods to new market areas in China, since each market area in China has different consumption habits, needs and tastes.

At the same time, constantly improving the quality of agricultural, forestry and fishery products, as well as food hygiene and safety. Increased control of residues of pesticides, food additives, dangerous bacteria on food products, application of quality management systems according to ISO, HACCP … to meet import country requirements and standards.

Leveraging and exploiting the Chinese market through e-commerce channels by uniting and collaborating with Chinese companies to set up warehouses…

In 2022, Vietnam successfully negotiated and opened up the market for high-quality agricultural products exported to China, such as durian, passion fruit, bird’s nest, sweet potato, and had hundreds of codes and a number of fruit-growing areas approved by the Chinese side.

As for private worm products, Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen, secretary-general of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, said that China has granted Vietnam only 246 primaries to grow durian for export, while Vietnam produces durian up to nearly 1 million tons/year, sales of billions of USD. Therefore, if the allocation of growing area codes for Vietnamese durians is not further developed, it will be very difficult, there will not be enough quotas for export.

Therefore, Mr Nguyen suggested that the relevant authorities should take action to deal with violations of intellectual property rights in growing areas, packaging codes and counterfeiting and counterfeiting of goods. There are technical support measures in place when Chinese Customs inspect plantations to issue codes.

On the other hand, fruit and vegetable companies are exploring the possibility of investment or investment cooperation with Chinese fruit and vegetable processing companies to improve export value on the one hand and catch up with the trend on the other. The market for processed fruit and vegetables has grown steadily in recent years.