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At the seminar |
The Office of the Vietnam Sanitary and Phytosanitary Notification Authority and Enquiry Point (SPS) today organized a bilateral Cross-Border Logistics Conference with the participation of Chinese businesses - IPC Seaport Group and SITC International Container Shipping Group, and Vietnamese companies - Mega A Logistics Company, Agricultural Bank Insurance Joint Stock Company (ABIC), Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) and agricultural export enterprises.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in 2022, agricultural, forestry and fishery exports will reach a turnover of more than US$53 billion (US$ 2,161,067), an increase of 9.3 percent compared to 2021. The industry's GDP growth rate is 3.36 percent, and the trade surplus is over $8.5 billion, an increase of 30 percent over the previous year. Amongst them, some 11 product groups have export turnover of over $1 billion and 7 items with revenue of over $3 billion.
In addition to shortening time and reducing costs, cross-border logistics needs to connect with the port system to bring agricultural products deep into the import market and reach higher customer segments. To do this, logistics needs to connect synchronous warehouse systems, and improve the quality of specialized transportation vehicles, loading and unloading, and human resources to serve in the logistics field. Additionally, logistics businesses and import-export businesses also need to connect closely.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mega A Logistics Company Dang Dinh Long said that cross-border logistics will bring goods in the production area to the importing country in the fastest time without undergoing inspections.
In the competition with other countries in selling agricultural products, the transportation time is a severe factor in increasing businesses’ competitiveness. In particular, in cross-border logistics, agricultural products are insured during transportation, so farmers and export companies do not have to worry about quality reduction. If the goods are damaged during transportation, insurance companies will be responsible. In addition, cross-border logistics will contact shipping lines to run empty one-way routes to reduce shipping costs.
On average, each year the Vietnam SPS Office receives more than 1,000 notices of changes in goods inspection, of which 80 percent are requests to improve food safety. Deputy Director of SPS Vietnam Office Ngo Xuan Nam said that in the coming time, free trade agreements will bring tariff barriers to zero percent, so countries will improve product quality inspection criteria and food safety. Cross-border logistics will reduce risks from the growing area to importing countries.
Companies signing with the SPS Office will regularly have updated information to support farmers and manufacturing businesses with disease and quarantine information before exporting. Currently, the costs of agricultural logistics account for 20 percent to 25 percent, but cross-border logistics will complete the connection between exporting and importing countries, reducing costs by approximately 5 percent to 7 percent.
At the ceremony, the SPS Office signed a cooperation agreement with Mega A Logistics company to regularly provide information on practical changes and amendments to import policies with the goal of increasing the value of Vietnamese agricultural products in the world market. In addition, the IPC Seaport Group, the SITC International Container Shipping Group, the Mega A Vietnam Group, the Agricultural Bank Insurance Joint Stock Company (ABIC), the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) signed a contract to form a chain of links for information exchange and export cooperation, e-commerce development, and insurance.
