Discussion session "Seizing export opportunities, sharing experiences and solutions for trade promotion"

In order to support women-owned export-oriented agribusinesses to increase market access and business opportunities, the Initiative to Support Women in Start-ups and Entrepreneurship (WISE) organized an event to close the event. business connection, export support in Ho Chi Minh City.

Attending the event were Mr. Le Hoang Tai - Deputy Director of Trade Promotion Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), Mr. Nguyen Huu Nam - Deputy Director of VCCI Ho Chi Minh City, Ms. Vu Kim Hanh - President of Vietnam Goods Association High quality and Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Thu - Director of Chanh Thu Fruit Import-Export Company.ng Lê Hoàng Tài – Phó Cục trưởng Cục Xúc tiến Thương mại (Bộ Công thương), Ông Nguyễn Hữu Nam – Phó Giám đốc VCCI Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Bà Vũ Kim Hạnh – Chủ tịch Hội Hàng Việt Nam Chất lượng cao và Bà Nguyễn Thị Hồng Thu – Giám đốc Công ty XNK Trái cây Chánh Thu.

At the event, Mr. Le Hoang Tai - Deputy Director of the Trade Promotion Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) - said that in the first three months of 2023, the export turnover of agricultural products decreased compared to the same period in 2022.

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The downward trend has appeared since the end of 2022, many orders were canceled or postponed. This is influenced by the downward chain effect from the global economic context. However, according to Mr. Le Hoang Tai, although the world cuts costs for consumption, the demand for food in general and agricultural products in particular still has room, there is still a good signal.

Temporarily, the Chinese market is still the largest market for Vietnam's agricultural products, accounting for the largest proportion of export turnover. In the near future, this country also plans to develop planting areas, replacing imported goods (for example, durian). This is a signal warned by Mr. Le Hoang Tai to enterprises exporting agricultural products.

Vietnam has the strength of being an agricultural country that exports agricultural products, but most of it exports raw agricultural products. Processed products are still too small compared to the proportion of agricultural products produced.

Meanwhile, the world market attaches great importance to organic products, ensuring health and environmental issues. "If our products keep struggling with the old way of doing things, they will not meet the consumption trends of the world market," said Mr. Tai.

See more: Vietnam's largest agricultural product export market nông sản lớn nhất của Việt Nam

Trade promotion activities

Another bottleneck is unprofessional trade promotion. Mr. Tai shared, Vietnamese enterprises participating in trade promotion exhibitions are not methodical, from preparation, packaging to display, they are not careful, leading to lack of competitiveness.

Following the above issue, Ms. Vu Kim Hanh - Chairman of Vietnam High Quality Goods Business Association and Director of BSA - said that if we talk to very professional commercial people in the world about the great difficulty Our best is the standard they don't understand. Explaining this, Ms. Hanh said: “In the industry, we call it the knock-out point, which means that if we don't meet the standard requirements, we don't talk about exporting anymore. It's not difficult, it's a very obvious passport." Lý giải điều này, bà Hạnh nói: “Trong nghề, chúng tôi gọi đó là điểm knock-out, tức là không đạt yêu cầu tiêu chuẩn thì không nói chuyện gì đến xuất khẩu nữa. Nó không phải khó khăn mà nó là tấm giấy thông hành rất hiển nhiên”.

However, for farmers or fishermen, correct understanding of standards and compliance as business ethics has not yet become a custom. “We are still quite arbitrary,” said Ms. Hanh about the story of ensuring compliance with export standards. Ms. Hanh said that, during a visit to Thailand's Ministry of Agriculture and cooperatives, a leader of the foreign sector expressed his opinion: Professional farmers only need to do one job well, which is to ensure production. achieve stable quality, the rest of the ecosystem must be around them to support. Bà Hạnh kể rằng, trong chuyến thăm Bộ Nông nghiệp và các hợp tác xã của Thái Lan, một lãnh đạo ngành nước bạn bày tỏ quan điểm: Người nông dân chuyên nghiệp chỉ cần làm tốt một công việc duy nhất là đảm bảo sản xuất đạt chất lượng ổn định, còn lại cả hệ sinh thái phải ở xung quanh họ để hỗ trợ.

For example, the Government makes correct and predictable policy. The business does all the work to provide the farmer with the necessary market information. Professional public or private promotion teams must help farmers with marketing and distribution. Universities and experts supervise.

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Situation "empty first, leak later" 

Currently, in Vietnam, we often say that farmers have to monitor the export market. "How can farmers understand the market?", asked Mrs. Hanh. Vietnamese farmers who do not receive such an ecosystem will face the situation of "empty first, leak later". Not to mention the very high logistics prices in Vietnam, reducing competitiveness. “trống trước, dột sau”. Đó là chưa kể giá logistics ở Việt Nam rất cao, làm giảm năng lực cạnh tranh.

As an example of how to develop the export capacity of agricultural products is still general and unprofessional, Ms. Vu Kim Hanh shared: “There was a Dutch distribution company that asked me that when I did the job of connecting and promoting If you do this, how do you get a percentage discount across the entire value chain?” Ms. Hanh honestly replied, “No. We don't collect any money." So the partner refused to work with her because "this is an unstable, unstable chain".Bà Hạnh thật tình trả lời “Không. Chúng tôi không thu bất kỳ khoản nào”. Thế là đối tác từ chối làm việc với bà vì đánh giá “đây là một chuỗi không ổn định, không vững vàng”.

From there, Ms. Vu Kim Hanh gave a summary of the fact that in Vietnam, people doing promotion and support work are not familiar with calculating costs with businesses. But professional trade has to be. "We still have to humbly go to school to learn professional manners in the ways of doing business from countries with good trade, like Europe," Hanh suggested. “Chúng ta còn phải khiêm tốn đi học (lề lối) chuyên nghiệp trong cách làm ăn của các nước làm thương mại giỏi, như châu Âu”, bà Hạnh đưa ra khuyến nghị.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Thu - Director of Chanh Thu Fruit Import-Export Company shared: "For export fruit, whether it is a small business or a large enterprise, the word "credit" plays an important role. Only genuine, professional, quality production, keeping the word "credibility" can last for a long time. In the international market, branding is no longer for individuals, but for businesses. Brand building for the country – Vietnamese fruit brand. We want to keep the long-term results, both businesses and farmers must unite, businesses in the same industry must join hands, preserve and develop the fruit brand - Made in Vietnam." 

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