According to experts, the EVFTA Agreement helps Vietnamese fruits and vegetables eliminate up to 94% of tariff lines when entering the EU, creating a competitive advantage compared to goods from Thailand and China. The question is, how do Vietnamese businesses take advantage of the commitments in the EVFTA Agreement to create competitive advantages, develop markets and so that agricultural products, especially vegetables, can Penetrate deeply into this difficult market.

Statistics show that, during the Covid-19 period, although trade activities encountered difficulties and fruit and vegetable export turnover decreased due to epidemic control policies of some markets, it still remained in the product group. export products over 3 billion USD/year. After the epidemic is controlled and markets reopen, fruits and vegetables are expected to recover and increase output and export value. Notably, in 2022, fruit and vegetable export turnover will reach 3.37 billion USD. Among them, the fresh fruit group, dragon fruit accounts for the largest proportion, followed by durian, banana, jackfruit... With the vegetable group, chili accounts for the largest proportion, followed by beans of all kinds, baby corn, and potatoes.

In 2022, many types of fruits will also be welcomed by the market such as passion fruit, durian, and bananas officially exported to China; grapefruit entering the US market; green lemons and grapefruits entering New Zealand; fresh longan into Japan.

According to data from the European Statistics Agency (Eurostat), Vietnam is the 59th largest fruit and vegetable supply market for the EU in the first 11 months of 2022, reaching 74,000 tons, worth 215 million USD, an increase of 7.8%. in volume and an increase of 35.3% in value compared to the same period in 2021. Estimated export turnover for the whole year 2022 is about 235 million USD.

The value increased because the average import price from Vietnam reached 2,723.1 Euro/ton, up 25.5% over the same period in 2021.

In the first 2 months of 2023, fruit and vegetable exports reached 592 million USD, an increase of 17.8% over the same period in 2022. Of which, China is still the main market, accounting for 57.5%, followed by the US. , Japan, Korea…

Vietnam's fruit and vegetable exports are experiencing some advantages when world demand for vegetables and fruits increases and Vietnam can produce year-round. In addition, participating in Free Trade Agreements (FTA) also helps most export tax lines of vegetables and fruits and products processed from fruits and vegetables be eliminated.

According to experts, the opportunity for Vietnamese fruits and vegetables in the European Union (EU) is huge because the market size is up to 62 billion Euro, equivalent to 43% of fruit trade value. and global vegetables. EU consumer demand is spread evenly throughout the year and depends largely on imports from outside. Vietnam has a great advantage in being able to produce vegetables and fruits all year round with very diverse types of fruits and vegetables. In addition, the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) helps Vietnam eliminate up to 94% of tariff lines for fruits and vegetables (previously there was a tax rate of 10-20%), creating a competitive advantage compared to other countries. Thailand and China.

EVFTA has many commitments that are beneficial to Vietnamese businesses in increasing the import and export of fruits and vegetables with the EU market. Therefore, businesses need to carefully study the relevant contents of EVFTA to be able to take full advantage of the benefits of the Agreement:

Learn about Vietnam and the EU's tariff commitments in Appendix 2-A of Chapter 2 - National Treatment and Goods Market Opening of the Agreement. It should be noted that the commitments in the EVFTA are the minimum commitments of each party. In particular, for many products, Vietnam and the EU committed to eliminating tariffs according to the roadmap. However, depending on their needs in each period, Vietnam or the EU can cut faster than committed in EVFTA. Therefore, to know the most accurate EVFTA tariff rate that each party applies to a product at a certain time, it is necessary to base on that party's current domestic regulations.

In addition, it should be noted that within 2 years from the date EVFTA takes effect, businesses can still continue to apply the GSP preferential tariff mechanism. Therefore, businesses can still choose to apply EVFTA or GSP preferential tariffs. Whichever mechanism they apply must meet the rules and procedures of origin of that mechanism.

Learn the rules and procedures for certification of origin to enjoy EVFTA tariff preferences in Protocol 1 - Regulations on originating goods and administrative management cooperation methods. Vietnam has also internalized regulations on EVFTA Rules of Origin in Circular No. 11/2020/TT-BCT dated June 15, 2020 regulating Rules of Origin of goods in EVFTA.

Learn about other related issues such as Trade Remedies (Chapter 3), Customs and Trade Facilitation (Chapter 4), TBT (Chapter 5), SPS (Chapter 6), Investment (Chapter 8), Intellectual property (Chapter 12) …

In addition to issues of tariffs and origin procedures, when exporting fruit and vegetable products to the EU, Vietnamese businesses also need to pay attention to fully meeting other import regulations, especially regulations on food hygiene and safety, plant quarantine, labeling... EU import regulations for fruits and vegetables are very strict, and change frequently, so export businesses must constantly update them. Penalties if found to be in violation are very severe, not only causing damage to the violating enterprise but also negatively affecting the exports of many other enterprises with similar products. Therefore, thoroughly and fully understanding the relevant import regulations, regularly updating information about these requirements and closely connecting with importers is something that fruit and vegetable export businesses must pay special attention to. pay special attention.

Minh Toan