It is forecasted that pepper, coffee, cashew nuts and many other key agricultural products of Vietnam will be more difficult to export to Europe as the region strengthens food safety monitoring measures. The number of food safety warnings from this region in the first 6 months of the year increased by 80% compared to the same period last year, making many exporting enterprises worried about their ability to adapt.

Technical “barriers” are being built higher by countries…

Receiving information that EU markets continue to strengthen food safety monitoring measures for imported agricultural products, including cashew nuts, Mr. Vu Thai Son, General Director of Long Son Company, expressed many concerns.

Because the EU market inherently requires very strict food safety and if the technical "barrier" is raised higher, exports to the EU will continue to face many challenges.

He cited that in order for processed cashew products to meet standards for this market, businesses only use water and coconut oil to clean processing machinery and equipment. This change not only increases costs but also yields and efficiency are very low compared to using high-detergent solutions before.

Therefore, according to Mr. Son, who is also the Chairman of the Binh Phuoc Cashew Association, the EU's continued raising of technical "barriers" will lead to many challenges for cashew exporting enterprises, especially when many businesses in this industry are losing money.

Mr. Son's concern as well as that of cashew nut enterprises is also the concern of many other agricultural product exporting enterprises. According to information from the Vietnam SPS Office (under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), they have just received a notice from the World Trade Organization (WTO) about the EU consulting WTO members on draft SPS measures (regulations on food safety and animal and plant disease safety).

Accordingly, depending on each product, the EU proposes to increase or decrease the maximum residue level (MRL) of some active ingredients. In addition to cashew nuts, the EU also proposed to change the MRL of some active ingredients in many agricultural products exported from Vietnam such as: avocado, banana, mango, papaya, durian, okra, tea, coffee, pepper, rice, macadamia...

Specifically, for the active ingredient Zoxamide, the EU proposed to reduce the MRL of Zoxamide in lettuce, salad, and spinach from 30ppm to 0.01ppm (equivalent to 3,000 times). The EU also proposed to reduce the MRL of Zoxamide from 0.05ppm to 0.01ppm for tea and coffee…

In addition to the active ingredient Zoxamide, the EU also proposed to change the MRL of 3 other active ingredients, Fenbuconazole, Penconazole and Acetamiprid, on products such as: peanuts, macadamia, avocado, banana, mango, guava, durian, banana, melon, pumpkin, watermelon, cauliflower, tomato and chili… These regulations are expected to come into effect in early 2025.

According to the Vietnam SPS Office (Vietnam National Sanitation, Phytosanitary and Phytosanitary Information and Enquiry Point (SPS) Office), the change in MRL of the above 4 active ingredients is related to many Vietnamese agricultural and food products being exported to the EU. Vietnam SPS requests that agencies research, comment and notify relevant organizations and individuals to control MRL according to EU regulations.

Don't let one shipment ruin the whole industry.

The above announcement is one of the latest moves to raise technical "barriers" from the import market, which will cause difficulties for businesses exporting Vietnamese agricultural and food products.

Harvesting dragon fruit. Photo: Maap Trade

The market is difficult due to prolonged political conflicts between countries, economic difficulties, high inflation... causing many countries to add more regulations to tighten imports, erecting strict non-tariff barriers.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese export enterprises have difficulty updating and complying with new regulations due to lack of information or the "barriers" erected by countries are too strict, making it difficult for them to adapt in time in the context of a sharp decline in orders.

Also believing that the increased food safety requirements from the European market are an additional challenge for businesses, Mr. Huynh Canh, Chairman of the Binh Thuan Province Dragon Fruit Association, said that businesses and dragon fruit growers will be able to adjust to adapt.

The problem Mr. Canh is concerned about is that a part of export enterprises purchase dragon fruit that does not meet the standards set by the import market, leading to impacts on the entire industry.

This, according to Mr. Canh, happened with dragon fruit, when the importer discovered that a few small batches of dragon fruit did not meet standards, causing the EU to put them on the warning list, greatly affecting the domestic industry.

Regarding warnings about agricultural and food products from the EU market, experts also said that the EU considers imported goods regardless of large or small volumes, so a shipment of a few dozen kilograms in violation is as affected as a shipment of a whole container.

"The number of violating shipments is very small compared to the total export volume of agricultural and food products of Vietnam, but the impact is not small. If only a small shipment is not controlled, it will affect the entire industry," said Dr. Ngo Xuan Nam, Deputy Director of the Vietnam SPS Office. He said that recently, only 7 shipments of dragon fruit, equivalent to 400-1,800 kg of dragon fruit, were found to not meet requirements, and this product was subject to EU border supervision, increasing from 20% to 30%.

The representative of Vietnam SPS noted that the number of EU notifications and warnings to Vietnam has increased significantly recently. Specifically, in the first 6 months of this year, Vietnam received 57 warnings from the EU, an increase of more than 80% compared to the same period last year.

Notably, according to Mr. Nam, there were many cases where Vietnam received very painful warnings. For example, a shipment of chili exported to the EU weighed only 38kg but was found to exceed the safety threshold, causing the EU to apply control measures at the border gate of up to 50%.

In addition, Vietnamese okra entering the EU is also subject to a 50% border control measure with a certificate, durian 10%... The above stories show that the collective efforts of the entire industry can be "lost in the dumps" just because of a few substandard shipments; there is even a risk of being banned from export, affecting the entire industry.

Therefore, according to experts, the only way for sustainable agricultural exports is to practice good agricultural production. Farmers and businesses must work together to comply with market requirements.

According to Mr. Ngo Xuan Nam, if you want sustainable exports, the only way is to comply with market regulations. Meeting these regulations also helps businesses' production to be more sustainable, so businesses need to proactively implement them.

Chairwoman of the Vietnam Pepper and Spice Association, Ms. Hoang Thi Lien, said that businesses in the industry have recently been warned about a number of indicators related to microorganisms, heavy metals, chemicals, etc.

According to Ms. Lien, when there is warning information, state agencies intervene to trace the origin, businesses want to be approached in the spirit of support, guidance on how to fix it instead of being viewed as a business that has violated.

The leader of SPS Vietnam requested that industry associations and export enterprises pay attention to and learn about information related to SPS issues, and promptly reflect any problems and difficulties to the management agency.

Source: TheSaiGonTimes