Rice, garlic, poultry eggs, etc. and some other agricultural products will be allocated quotas by the EU in accordance with commitments in the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the European Union - EU.

Under the agreement of Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), import quotas for some agricultural products of Vietnam are as follows: for rice, the EC provide an annual quota of 80,000 tons, including 20,000 tons of unmilled rice, 30,000 tons of milled rice and 30,000 tons of fragrant rice.

The above rice quotas are divided into stages in the year. Specifically, quota for unmilled rice from January 1 to March 31 is 10,000 tons; from April 1 to June 30 is 5,000 tons; From July 1 to September 30 is 5,000 tons.

For fragrant rice, the quota from January 1 to March 31 is 15,000 tons; from April 1 to June 30 is 7,500 tons and from 1 July to September 30 is 7,500 tons.

In addition to rice, the EC also allocates quotas for a number of agricultural products such as poultry eggs with quota from August 1 to December 31 of 208,334 tons and a yearly quota of 500 tons; with garlic, the quota from August 1 to the end of the year is 167,668 tons and the annual quota is 400 tons, etc.

These quotas are expected to help increase Vietnam's agricultural presence in the EU market. For example, previously, Vietnam's exported rice to the EU was subject to a tax of up to 45%. There are even some EU countries that impose import duties on Vietnamese rice up to 100% or higher. This tariff makes it difficult for Vietnamese rice to compete with similar products from Cambodia. However, when EVFTA comes into effect, the export tax of rice to the EU will decrease and gradually approach to 0%, creating conditions for Vietnamese rice to increase its competitiveness when exporting to this market.

Although the export turnover is not high, the EU is still a potential market of Vietnamese rice. The reason is that this market requires very high standards and if penetrated successfully, Vietnamese rice will have a solid "springboard" to enter many other markets. When the tax for Vietnamese rice is reduced, the price will decrease, competitiveness will certainly increase. Similarly, agricultural products are expected to increase its presence in this market.

Nguyen Cam Trang, Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), said that the market has opened, but the problem is that whether domestic enterprises can meet very strict standards of this market or not. The EU is one of the markets with the highest quality and technical requirements in the world. In particular, with agricultural and fishery products, the EU not only requires strict standards for food safety, chemical residues, but also focuses on environmental factors and sustainable development. This is what businesses need to keep in mind.

Kylie Nguyen