Supply chains need reforms to meet importers’ strict standards hinh anh 1A grapevine garden in Tuy Phong, Ninh Thuan (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Businesses must change their thought about the supply chain and methods to organise it for meeting increasingly stringent standards of import markets, a representative of the Business Association of High-Quality Vietnamese Goods has said.

The association held a workshop on May 23 to help enterprises gain an insight into regulations and standards in countries importing Vietnam’s agricultural products.

Chairwoman of the association Vu Kim Hanh said: “We are facing a challenge of technical barriers set up by import countries. Instead of focusing solely on verifying the quality of final products, developed countries request a whole process to be verified to prevent risks.”
 
She said each step in the supply chain must have a standard to prevent risks. Meanwhile, both farmers and processors must also strictly comply with the production process.

The business association has established a new set of criteria for high-quality Vietnamese goods so as to help producers satisfy importers’ requirements, she noted.

Hanh also urged state management agencies to make new regulations to assist Vietnamese firms in meeting import countries’ standards.

Nguyen Kim Thanh, a specialist in supply chains and food safety, said European markets require food safety and the farm-to-table chain, as well as producers’ responsibility, to be ensured.

Dao Duc Huan from the Institute for Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development said numerous opportunities and challenges will appear for Vietnamese products during the integration process.

Exporters are likely to encounter difficulties posed by import countries’ technical barriers. Therefore, producers and processors must make bigger investments into building and managing safe food-oriented supply chains, he stressed. -VNA
VNA