VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnamese exporters have been warned of difficulties in 2019 because of changes in China’s cross-border trade policies.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), in its market bulletin released on January 23, warned that vegetable, fruit, rice and pork exports to China “will meet many challenges in 2019”.

The ministry said that higher taxes on rice, cross-border import restrictions and new requirements on traceability will be detrimental for Vietnam’s farm produce. 

Rice

Vietnam exported 6.1 million tons of rice worth $3.04 billion in 2018, an increase of 4 percent in export volume and 15.3 percent in value compared with 2017.

By the end of November 2018, China was the biggest export market for Vietnam with 23.7 percent of total exports.

China was also the biggest consumer of Vietnam’s Jasmine and fragrant rice, amounting to 24 percent of the exports of these varieties of rice. As for sticky rice, China consumed 82 percent of Vietnam’s exports.

However, Vietnam’s Japonica and Japanese-variety rice was mostly exported to Papua New Guinea, which consumed 56 percent, while China consumed 12 percent only.

Vegetable & fruit

Vietnam reported a bountiful year of vegetables and fruits in 2018 with output much higher than the years before. However, consumption still depended on the Chinese market.

As China unexpectedly tightened imports and closed some border gates, Vietnam’s vegetable & fruit exports did not increase sharply as seen in previous years.

Vietnam exported $3.8 billion worth of vegetables and fruits last year, up by 8.9 percent over 2017.

China was the biggest consumer of vegetables and fruits as of November 2018, with 73.3 percent of market share.

Vietnamese enterprises are now rushing to export fruits to China for the Tet sale season. Government agencies encouraged enterprises to export fruits, especially durian, through official channels.

However, farmers in some Mekong Delta provinces such as Ben Tre, Vinh Long and Tien Giang are worried as small merchants have been slow in collecting durian which is ripening.

Pork

The pork price increased in the first nine months of 2018 and decreased in the last three months.

Livestock exports brought $546 million worth revenue in 2018.

Pig farming is expected to continue to bring high profits to farmers thanks to high domestic and Chinese demand.

China is lacking pork because of ASF (African swine fever) which is becoming serious and increasingly high demand as Tet is nearing. In late December 2018, China said that 630,000 pigs were destroyed because of epidemics.

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