Apart from challenges such as falling prices and the contraction in the number of orders, Vietnamese exporters are facing more and more technical barriers and the trend of trade protection of importers.

This was reported at a conference held in Ho Chi Minh City on July 17 by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Most worthy of note is Japan ’s ethoxyquin residue limit applied on Vietnamese shrimps, the conference heard.

The foothold of aquatic products, vegetables, garments and textiles, footwear and steel pipes in foreign markets has also been shaken.

In the first six months of this year, the country’s export turnover reached 53.33 billion USD, up 22.7 percent over the same period last year.

However, many of export items, especially agricultural products and seafood, are showing a reduction in value with coffee dropping 4.4 percent against last year; rubber, 31.3 percent; cashew nuts, 10.4 percent; tea, 0.3 percent; and rice 6.6 percent.

Nguyen Thanh Bien, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, highlighted coordination between businesses, associations and management agencies in information exchange, price forecasting and seeking new partners and markets in a bid to remove such difficulties for Vietnamese exporters.

He also stressed the need for management agencies to uphold their role in controlling product quality so as to raise the prestige of Vietnamese products while accelerating administrative procedural reform.

Bien suggested Vietnamese exporters shift their focus to new high-tech products in the context that agro-forestry-fisheries products, fuels and minerals are facing a broad range of difficulties.-VNA