Vietnam looking to expand export to Eurasian market
Hanoi (VNA) - Being flexible in accessing distribution systems, overcoming logistical difficulties and making good use of free trade agreements (FTA) are important factors for Vietnamese goods to better access the Eurasian market in the coming time, said insiders.
According to Ta Hoang Linh, director of the Europe-America Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), the large Eurasian region consisting of
28 countries, stretching from Eastern Europe to Central Asia, is a potential
export market for Vietnam.
According to statistics of the General
Department of Customs, two-way trade between Vietnam and the Eurasian region hit 12.7 billion USD in 2020, representing
a year-on-year of 20.4 percent, accounting for 2.3 percent of Vietnam’s total
export turnover.
Despite difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the two-way trade in
the first 11 months of 2021 reached 12.7 billion USD, 13.1 percent higher than
that of the same period of 2020.
According to Vietnamese Trade Counselor in Russia Duong Hoang Minh, Russia is one of the main partners of Vietnam in the
Eurasian market.
Russian people are more and more interested in Vietnamese food, he said, noting
that dried fruits with good quality such as mango and custard apple have
gradually make inroads into this market.
Notably, recently, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)
has removed 76 countries, including many of Vietnam's export competitors to
Russia and the EAEU in general like China, Malaysia, Turkey, Brazil, Peru, and Chile, out of the list of those enjoying its tariff preferences.
Meanwhile, after 5 years of implementing the Vietnam-EAEU FTA, most of Vietnam's goods
exported to the region are entitled to zero percent tax rate, Minh
said, adding that this is an advantage for Vietnamese businesses to expand their
exports, especially agro-forestry-aquaculture products, to Russia.
According to Natalia Zhynkina, Chargé d'Affaires of Ukraine in Vietnam, her
country needed to import 6.5 billion USD worth of agricultural products in 2021
but the import value from Vietnam reached only 900 million USD. This shows that
there is huge potential for Vietnam to increase export to the market.
In order to fully tap incentives from FTAs and promote import-export growth
with the Eurasian market in general and the Russian market in particular, Vietnamese
enterprises should actively conduct market survey, join more trade fairs in
Russia, and cooperate with Vietnamese firms operating in this country to
introduce products in EAEU member countries, Minh said/.