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| The consultation session on exporting spices to the Middle East and Africa. (Photo: CPV) |
Aiming to support Vietnamese localities, businesses and cooperatives to find partners, connect business opportunities and export spices to the Middle East and Africa, the Department Trade Promotion has coordinated with the Vietnamese Trade Offices in the Middle East and Africa to organize a consultation session on exporting spices to the markets.
At the consultation session, Mr. Le Viet Anh, Chief of the Office of the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA), discussed the supply source of Vietnamese pepper products, target export markets and some issues of promoting export of Vietnamese pepper products to the world market.
He said that in 2022, pepper output is estimated at 175,000 tons, down 10% compared to 2021. In the first 6 months of the year, Vietnam exported 125,553 tons of pepper, valued at 568.8 million USD. Compared to the same period last year, in spite of a decrease of 19% in export volume, pepper export value increased by 13.5% due to improved prices.
“The Middle East and Africa are not big export markets for Vietnam’s spice industry. Specifically, in the first half of 2022, the country’s export spices volume to the Middle East reached 18,252 tons, down 18.8% year on year, while export volume to Africa was 6,696 tons, down 26.6%,” he added.
Mr. Le Viet Anh also explained why pepper, cinnamon in particular, and Vietnamese spices in general have not been able to exploit the Middle East and African markets due to the influence of the conflict in Eastern Europe, causing high oil prices.
Increasing technical barriers of import markets in combination with fierce competition from big spice producers such as Indonesia and Brazil in these markets have made it difficult for Vietnam’s spice exports.
Aiming to limit the risks, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, Deputy Director of the Export Support Center under the Trade Promotion Department advised Vietnamese exporters to carefully research their partners before trading, investigate traders, be wary of deals that are too attractive, and find out information through Vietnamese Trade Offices in the Middle East, Africa, and the host country’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry./.