2016 is expected to be a year of opportunities for Vietnamese exporters. Not to miss these opportunities, Vietnamese exporters have been actively preparing and have received positive signals since the beginning of the year.
Sharp increase in rice, cashew nuts
In the first months of the year, a number of agricultural export commodities such as rice and cashew nuts have prospered.
According to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), shipment from February 1 to February 18 2016 reached 172,875 tonnes of rice, bringing total exports of rice from January 1 to February 18 to 589,646 tonnes, up 40 percent against 2015.
According to VFA, the reason rice export rises sharply is due to stronger demand from the Philippines, Indonesia as these countries are seriously affected by drought. Experts also said that rice exports will continue to prosper because these markets still have a high demand for rice imports. This is an opportunity for Vietnamese rice exporters.
In addition, in difficult markets such as Japan, Korea and EU, Vietnamese rice has gradually gained foothold, by improving its rice quality. The standard for sustainable rice SRP includes 46 criteria, with particular emphasis on economic, social and environment factors as a starting point, opening opportunities and advantages to help Vietnamese rice affirm the value and brand in the international arena.
Besides rice, cashew export also has better growth. Currently, Vietnam cashew nuts account for over 50 percent of the global transaction. According to the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas), with adjustments recent rate hike by the US Federal Reserve System (FED), in 2016, Vietnamese cashew will have additional conditions of export growth in this market. According to Vinacas, 2015 is the 10th consecutive year that Vietnam held leading positions in cashew nut exporters with exports volume reaching approximately US$ 2.5 billion, the highest ever. This will be a good premise for this sector to fulfill the plan for 2016.
However, economic experts warn, to maintain and promote export of these items, businesses should take advantage of the expanding markets to diversify demand, improve product quality, production efficiency, sales and value added, limiting its heavy dependence on a few markets and taking advantage of free trade agreements.
Fisheries also promises to prosper despite difficulties
In the first months of 2016, seafood exports continue to decline over the same period last year. According to the latest statistics of the Vietnam Customs, in the first half of February 2016, the export turnover of Vietnam decreased, mainly due to lower exports of goods: textiles, telephones & accessories, footwear, computers, electronic products & components, machinery, equipments, tools and spare parts, marine products, vehicles and spare parts, among which seafood decreased US$210 million.
Among the causes of this situation, the experts identified as a result of a number of basic elements such as the world economic recession, especially the main markets, more currency devaluation combined with an increase in the supply of seafood. However, experts also said that the opportunity to exploit the market to increase exports of agricultural, forestry and fisheries is still relatively large in 2016 and subsequent years because these items always have certain stability of market demand.
Besides, when the FTAs take effect, export opportunities will increase because seafood enjoys large tax incentives, increase competitiveness in comparison with the same kind of other countries. Integration will help the fisheries sector increase investment, expand market share, boost domestic production, increase levels of processing and more development opportunities.
The evidence for this is that according to Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the production of shrimp has many positive signs such as shrimp prices rose slightly, shrimp consumption in big markets are quite good, market forecasts for shrimp consumption in 2016 are bright, opportunities are opening up for farmers. At this time, most Agricultural and Rural Development Departments are focusing on the recommendations about seasonality in 2016, closely monitoring the movements of livestock and doing environment monitoring.
Also, the fishing vessels are actively sailing at the favourable weather. The economic value species such as squid, cuttlefish and mackerel account for a high percentage of exploited species. Lower gasoline price is also a good opportunity for fishermen to reduce costs and increase income.
Vietnam Association of Seafood Export and Production (VASEP) also stated, in 2016 exports of seafood from Vietnam will grow again. VASEP forecasts that in 2016, total seafood export turnover of Vietnam will reach about US$7.12 billion, up 6.3 percent compared to 2015. The shrimp, squid, octopus, fish and other marine other seafood will have high growth rates in the year.
Thu Ha
Vietnamese
