Phones and components take the lead among Vietnam's key export items to Spain. (Photo: VOV)
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic having a negative impact on economic and trade ties between both sides, two-way trade turnover has yielded positive results thanks to the enforcement of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
Statistics released by the General Department of Vietnam Customs indicate that Vietnamese exports to Spain during the opening seven months of the year reached 1.374 billion USD, an annual increase of 14.78%.
With approximately 70% of the Spanish population fully vaccinated, their economic recovery will serve to boost Vietnamese import and export turnover to the market ahead in the remaining months of the year.
The enforcement of EVFTA is therefore expected to create a wealth of opportunities in which Vietnamese goods can penetrate the Spanish market.
Currently, key Vietnamese export items to the European country include phones and components, garments and textiles, footwear; machinery, tools and spare parts, coffee, toys, game equipment and sports equipment, and furniture, leather travel accessories, rubber, edible fruit and almonds, seafood, plastic products, metal tools and kitchenware, and carpets.
Experts have advised domestic seafood enterprises to meet stringent technical standards relation to safety and hygiene so as to make inroads into the EU and Spanish markets, especially with regard to regulations of residue levels of banned substances in export seafood products.
Moreover, the Spanish market, along with the EU market in general, continues to pay special attention to corporate social responsibility, with employers required to ensure standard working conditions for employees along with environmental protection.
Amid the complicated nature of COVID-19 developments, the Trade Office said it will help local businesses enhance online trade linkages and participate in online trade promotion activities at both local and international fairs and exhibitions.
Vietnamese delicious rice presented to 10,000 consumers in Australia
From August 18, more than 10,000 Australian consumers will be invited to try Vietnamese rice through a program promoting Vietnamese rice exports to the country.
ST25 specialty rice becomes the pride of Vietnamese rice. (Photo: VNA)
The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s office has informed that in order to continue promoting export of Vietnamese agricultural products to other countries, the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia is organizing a series of events to promote brands and connect trade for Vietnamese rice from August 18 to September 27.
Accordingly, 10,000 bags of Vietnam’s Ban Mai Cung Dinh rice will be presented to consumers in Australia. The rice gifts will be distributed via the M-Import Company and MCQ supermarket chain.
In addition, AusViet company will also offer hundreds of promotional gifts of Vietnam’s ST25 and Jasmine Vilaconic rice trademarks in Melbourne.
In Sydney, an event inviting local people to try cooked rice using different Vietnamese rice products available in Australia is scheduled to be held based on local social distancing conditions.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the first seven months of 2021, in the context of Australia’s sharp decrease in the demand for rice imports from the world (down 32%), Vietnamese rice exports to the market grew impressively up to 37.03% in turnover compared to the same period last year. The reasons are quality of Vietnamese rice increasing and continuing effort in building a brand to consumers in Australia./.
Vietnamese furniture has plenty of room in France, the EU
Vietnam is the 6th largest wood furniture supplier to France, but the proportion accounts for only 4.5% of the total import value, still low compared to the import demand of the market.
Vietnam is the 6th largest wood furniture supplier to France. (Photo: Chinhphu.vn)
According to International Trade Center’s statistics cited by the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Import-Export Department, in the first half of 2021, France’s wood furniture imports increased by 59.9% compared to the same period last year, reaching 2.4 billion USD.
Specifically, France increased imports of wooden furniture from markets during the period, of which, imports mainly came from Italy, China and Germany with the value accounting for 49.8% of the country’s total import value.
In the first 6 months of 2021, living room and dining room furniture (HS code 940360), wooden frame chairs (HS code 940161, 940169) are the two main items in the structure of wooden furniture France imported. In which, imports of living room and dining room furniture reached 930.6 million USD, up 65.2% year on year.
Vietnam is also the fifth largest supplier of wooden frame chairs to France. However, the import value of French wooden frame chairs from Vietnam accounted for only 6.7% of France’s total imports.
Similar to France, in fact, although export of wood products to the EU increased sharply, Vietnam’s wooden furniture exports to the market still accounted for a small proportion. This shows that the room for market expansion for Vietnamese wood products export to the EU is very large.
Experts predict that in the second half of 2021, Vietnam’s export value of wood and wood products to the EU will surge when the COVID-19 epidemic is under control and the EU gradually loosens epidemic prevention measures and opens the door to trade.
In addition, the Vietnam-EU Trade Agreement (EVFTA) which is being implemented will bring some benefits to the wood industry such as the reduction of non-tariff barriers and more convenience in the import of modern machinery for the domestic wood industry, among others./.