Center for WTO & International Trade (WITC)

Study on Vietnamese Fruits overcome barriers to accessing EU market, takes advantage of opportunities brought under the EVFTA

19/03/2019

Date: March 2019

By: WTO and International Trade Center

This study aims to assist the Vietnamese fruit sector in enhancing its exports to the EU market, by analyzing the EU’s NTMs, how restrictive they are, what challenges they pose for Vietnamese fruit exports, and potential solutions for Vietnamese exporters to overcome these challenges. This is the first study to comprehensively investigate the EU’s NTMs applied on Vietnamese fruits. To date, the fruit sector has received little attention from researchers, as it has not been considered to be one of Vietnam’s major exporting sectors. This study therefore represents a resource for growers and producers in the Vietnamese fruit industry, most of whom are small farmers and enterprises located mostly in rural areas, who have inadequate resources to implement research on foreign market regulations.

This research is divided into three sections. The first section examines the current state of Vietnamese fruit production and export, and explores the potential of the EU market for Vietnamese fruits, especially in the context of the new EVFTA. The second section reviews the application of NTMs around the world, and then investigates of the content, application, and restrictiveness of the EU’s NTMs imposed on the potential Vietnamese fruit exports. Finally, the third section discusses the challenges faced by Vietnamese fruit producers and exporters in complying with the EU’s NTMs, and then makes recommendations for both the Vietnamese government and businesses on the ways to overcome these challenges and better promote the export of Vietnamese fruits to the EU market.

This study was implemented under the framework of the cooperation program between the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (the WTO and International Trade Center) and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF). We hope that this study will serve as a useful material for the businesses as well as researchers in researching and meeting EU’s requirements on fruits to increase export values to this market in the context of the forthcoming Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the EU.

The Publication is attached below (Vietnamese and English version)