The Australian market is opening up substantial headroom for Vietnamese agricultural products and food, particularly fresh, deep-processed, organic, and Halal products.

Notably, capitalizing on advantages from free trade agreements has assisted import-export activities between Vietnamese and Australian enterprises to grow ever stronger, with numerous businesses from both sides pouring major capital flows to master trans-national agricultural supply chains.

Agricultural products and food possess ample growth headroom

According to Customs statistics, in the first 7 months of 2026, Vietnam exported nearly 4.6 billion USD worth of goods to Australia, up nearly 30% compared to the same period last year. Within which, agricultural products and food—alongside electronics, machinery, and equipment groups—continued to contribute significantly to export turnover.

Ms. Tran Thanh My, Deputy Consul General of Vietnam in Sydney and Head of the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia, stated that Vietnam's export turnover to Australia has increased continuously, climbing from 3.6 billion USD in 2020 to 6.8 billion USD in 2025.

According to Ms. My, deep-processed agricultural products and high-quality food represent one of the most promising commodity groups in Australia. This is a market possessing high per capita income, large purchasing power, and a multi-ethnic population, thereby creating headroom for multiple product lines such as fresh produce, processed food, Halal food, and organic products.

As an enterprise directly exporting to multiple markets, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung, CEO of Vina T&T, shared that in recent years, Vietnam exported many agricultural, aquatic, and food items to Australia, with a value of approximately 786.8 million USD in 2025, in which aquatic products reached nearly 350 million USD. Coffee, pepper, cashew nuts, frozen shrimp... have also increasingly become familiar products to Australian consumers.

Conversely, Vietnam imports large volumes of raw materials and food from Australia. Separately, wheat reached approximately 380.4 million USD, corresponding to 1.39 million tons. Australia also stands as Vietnam's third-largest fruit and vegetable supply source, following China and the US.

From the perspective of a trade-export enterprise, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Viet, Director of Vietgo Export Promotion Company, observed that an increasing number of Australian buyers are demonstrating interest in supply sources from Vietnam. Advantages regarding geographical distance and logistics relative to certain regions like Europe or Africa help Vietnamese goods maintain more competitive transport costs.

Notably, Australia's high import standards are also viewed as a driving force for Vietnamese enterprises to elevate product quality. According to Mr. Viet, if strict Australian requirements are satisfied, Vietnamese goods will gain additional advantages when accessing other developed markets.

Compliance and value chain expansion

Satisfying standards from the Australian market, experts consider, not only opens additional markets for Vietnamese fruit, but also generates pressure for enterprises and production regions to elevate quality control, origin traceability, and supply chain management capacities.

For instance, according to the representative of Vina T&T, with green-skin pomelo, to satisfy export standards, growing areas must be granted codes, and shipment batches must execute required treatment measures under quarantine mandates prior to export. This requires enterprises to tightly control the entire chain, from raw material zones, production, and packaging to transport.

Ms. Tran Thanh My evaluated that Australia is one of the markets with stringent requirements regarding food safety, biosecurity quarantine, technical standards, and sustainable development. Vietnamese enterprises therefore need to shift from a "shipment-by-shipment export" mindset toward constructing stable, long-term markets and supply chains.

For agricultural enterprises, mastering regulations on quarantine, plant protection chemical residue limits, origin traceability, packaging, and labeling needs to be executed right from the production phase. A single violating shipment can cause losses for the enterprise and damage the reputation of Vietnamese goods.

Beside quality and technical standards, enterprises also need to focus on brand building. Australian consumers pay increasing attention to factors such as sustainable production, environmental friendliness, and social responsibility. This serves as the foundation for Vietnamese enterprises to invest more systematically in packaging, brand identification, and product communications.

Trade relations between Vietnam and Australia possess many favorable conditions to expand, especially after the two nations upgraded their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in March 2024. Trade activities continue to be promoted via the Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy (EEES) alongside agreements such as the CPTPP, RCEP, and AANZFTA.

The commodity structure between the two countries also exhibits clear complementary characteristics. Vietnam possesses advantages in tropical fruits, aquatic products, coffee, cashew nuts, and processed foods, whereas Australia maintains strengths in wheat, cotton, livestock meat, milk, and numerous raw materials serving agricultural and food production.

Australia currently stands as Vietnam's largest trading partner in Oceania, accounting for over 90% of Vietnam's total import-export turnover with this region. In the first 6 months of 2026, two-way trade turnover reached approximately 8.2 billion USD, up 21.9% compared to the same period last year.

Source: Vnbusiness