EVFTA creates opportunities for Vietnamese goods to lower costs when exporting to the European market, improving competitiveness with goods that have not had an FTA with the EU.
From today (August 1), the EVFTA Agreement officially took effect, according to which, many key products of Vietnam will benefit from this agreement. It can be said that this is a great opportunity for Vietnamese businesses in the difficult context due to the 2nd Covid-19 epidemic and complicated developments.
Vietnam has advantages in production and export of agricultural, forestry and aquatic products, while the EU has great demand for these items with the import value accounting for 8.4% of the total annual import value. Therefore, the room for growth in exports to the EU is still very large.
According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), seafood exports from Vietnam to the EU are facing a huge opportunity, when businesses can access a huge seafood consumption market with Average consumption reached 22.03 kg / person, 5.34 kg higher than the world average.
Along with that, EVFTA will be the agreement with the strongest impact, creating a major turning point in the market structure for Vietnam’s shrimp products. Specifically, nearly 50% of the tariff lines currently have the base tax rate of 0-22%, most of which are high from 6-22%, will be reduced to 0%. About 50% of the remaining tax lines with the base tax rate of 5.5-26% will be reduced to 0% after 3 – 7 years.
With the wood industry, the EU is currently the second largest wood import market in the world, although Vietnam is one of the five largest wood processing and exporting countries in the world, but the export turnover to the EU is still modest. only accounts for more than 1% of the total annual furniture import demand of this market.
However, when the EVFTA comes into effect, EU importers may prioritize buying Vietnamese wood products to get tax cuts, then the cost of Vietnamese wood products in the EU will decrease and attract consumers. more European.
According to EVFTA’s commitment, among the main export products of Vietnam to the EU, the tariff will be eliminated by the EU with 77.3% of export turnover in 5 years, 22.7% of turnover. the rest will also be eliminated by EU tariffs after 7 years.
In addition to the advantage of tax rates, this Agreement also promises to bring Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises the opportunity to import high quality machinery, access to qualified raw materials in the EU …
With the footwear industry, the ability to develop and expand the market of the Vietnamese leather and footwear industry will be much greater thanks to the positive effects of EVFTA. The EU is currently Vietnam’s second largest leather and footwear export market with about 30% of the total export value. In which, Germany, France and Belgium are the main markets. When EVFTA comes into effect, Vietnam will have more opportunities to expand exports, at the same time, create impetus to attract investment in supporting industries.
In the field of rice export, the Import and Export Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that rice exports to the EU in 2019 reached 10.9 million USD, up 92.4% compared to 2018. In terms of market capacity, historical trends Rice consumption in the EU is increasing sharply due to the popularity of Asian food here. According to statistics, each year the EU consumes about 2.5 million tons of rice. Therefore, coming here, the opportunity for Vietnamese rice exports to the EU is huge.
At the Online Forum for Trade and Industry Cooperation with European Union Partners (EVFTA) held yesterday (July 31), Mr. Jean-Jacques Bouflet, Vice President of EuroCham Association said, from 1/8, EVFTA Agreement comes into effect, 99% of tariff lines will be cut in the next decade. This is an opportunity for European businesses to access Vietnam’s new consumer market. European goods from cars to wine can compete fairly on the Vietnamese market with other partners.
In contrast, Vietnamese businesses will have the opportunity to access incentives from Europe’s large consumer market and high income. The tax reduction will lead to an increased flow of goods from Vietnam such as coffee, seafood, machinery, components, shoes … to 27 EU member countries.
According to Mr. Jean-Jacques Bouflet, if the EVFTA implementation goes smoothly, Vietnam will not only have better access to European goods and services, but also benefit from the strong growth of exports and transfers. knowledge, application of international standards …