A cashew processing line for export of a firm in the central province of Binh Thuan (Photo: VNA) According to Nguyen Cam Trang, deputy director of the Ministry of Industry andTrade (MoIT)’s Import-Export Department, meeting the rules of origin is one ofthe prerequisites for Vietnamese goods to enjoy preferential tariffs from theCPTPP. However, the awareness of domestic enterprises about the rules has beenslow and remained restricted as the rules are relatively complicated anddifferent from those of other free trade agreements.
While enterprises couldn’t follow the rules rapidly, the support of the Statemanagement agencies to the enterprises on the issue hasn’t been as effective asexpected.
Therefore, to make effective use of the CPTPP, according to Trang, Statemanagement agencies should improve the efficiency of enforcement, whilecontinuing to streamline legal documents.
In addition, communications should continue to be focused on providinginformation related to commitments, tariff incentives and rules of origin in amore specialised direction, going deep into each market, each specific product,with specialised training offered to have a more strengthened impact onspecific target groups.
Information on import markets related to taste, capacity and especiallymanagement policies should also be provided to businesses for their productionorientation.
On the business side, they also need to improve their activity in capturing theabove information.
After more than three years of implementing the CPTPP, Vietnam's exports toCPTPP countries have achieved impressive results, especially in new marketssuch as Canada, Mexico, and Peru. Besides markets with large export turnoverssuch as the US, China, and EU, other markets in Latin America or Oceania havealso gained double-digit growth in import and export turnover.
In the Canadian market, for example, despite difficulties caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic, the export of goods from Vietnam to Canada rose 20.8 percentto 5.3 billion USD, according to the Vietnamese Trade Office in Canada. Thiswas the third consecutive year Vietnam gained positive growth in exports toCanada since 2019 when the two countries officially became members of theCPTPP.
Vietnam's agricultural and fishery products have continued to affirm theirfoothold in the Canadian market. For example, Vietnamese cashew nuts haveaccounted for 90 per cent of the Canadian market’s total quantity while thenumbers for pepper and shrimp were 50 percent and 30 percent, respectively.
According to representatives of the Vietnamese Trade Office in Canada, though Vietnamis currently Canada's largest trading partner in Southeast Asia, opportunitiesfor Vietnamese goods to access the Canadian market is still very large as themarket share of Vietnamese goods in the market accounts for only 1.7 percent ofCanada's import value. As the Canadian government is continuing to pursue astrategy of market diversification and considering Vietnam an important partnerin Asia, it will be a great opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises to accessthis market.
Tran Thanh Hai, deputy director of the MoIT’s Import-Export Department, saidsince the CPTTP took effect, export turnover to the CPTPP’s markets has grownimpressively.
CPTPP markets, especially American countries like Canada, Mexico, and Peru,were relatively new for Vietnamese exporters before the CPTPP took effect andVietnamese exports to the markets were modest. However, after theimplementation of the CPTPP, Vietnam's export turnover to the markets hasincreased significantly, according to Hai./.
VNA
