Mr. Nguyen Canh Cuong, Trade Counsellor at the Vietnamese Embassy to the UK, participates in the seminar online
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, after more than a year of implementation, the UKVFTA has yielded good results for Vietnamese enterprises when export turnover has reached double digits despite the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic.
UKVFTA has introduced many measures to encourage the development of bilateral trade. In particular, import tax into the UK will be eliminated by up to 99.2 percent within 6 years, creating great advantages for Vietnam's exports.
In addition to Vietnam's strong export industries such as textiles, garments, footwear, seafood, and furniture, through this agreement, the UK also grants Vietnam an additional tariff quota for imports and duty-free for 14 items. Thereby, many firms have taken advantage of this to export products and goods from Vietnam to the UK.
However, the Ministry of Industry and Trade assesses that the export potential to the UK market in the UKVFTA is still very huge because Vietnamese goods only account for less than 1 percent of the annual import demand of more than US$600 billion of the UK market.
In participating in the seminar, Mr. Nguyen Canh Cuong, Trade Counsellor at the Vietnamese Embassy to the UK, said that without UKVFTA, Vietnam's exports to the UK market in the past time would have decreased significantly.
He pointed out that one of the reasons is that many Vietnamese enterprises are not ready to export to the UK for fear of many barriers and high standards.
In his opinion, Mr. Cuong assessed that the British are now interested in Vietnamese brands and Vietnamese products. Therefore, he advised that Vietnamese enterprises should not hesitate about prioritizing promoting their products to the UK market faster. He emphasized that the present moment is a very good opportunity for Vietnamese businesses and Vietnamese products to make their mark on the minds of British consumers. The trade department is very willing to accompany businesses, ready to provide information and advice for each specific business to access the UK market, said Mr. Cuong.
Sharing information about aquatic products, Ms. Le Hang, Communications Director of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), affirmed that, no matter how difficult it is, Vietnam's shrimp noodle is still the first ranking in the UK market, always accounting for a quarter of the UK market share.
In 2022, although European consumers tightened their spending due to high inflation, by the end of November, Vietnam's seafood exports to the UK reached US$287 million, no decrease compared to the same period last year, according to Ms. Hang.
The representative of VASEP also said that even in difficulties, there is also good luck. UK people consume a lot of whitefish. Before, Russia was the leading supplier to the UK market; however, due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the supply from the Russian market to the UK is limited. Vietnamese pangasius exporters can increase the market share in the UK in 2022, Ms. Hang informed.
Despite such advantages and potentials, from the perspective of FTA experts, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Trang – Director of the Center for WTO and International Trade, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that Vietnamese businesses have not been taking full advantage of the incentives from UKVFTA. According to the assessment after one year of implementation of the agreement, the rate of using preferential tariffs that Vietnamese enterprises have achieved is only 17.2 percent.
In order to take advantage of tariff preferences as well as promote exports to the UK when implementing UKVFTA, Ms. Ton Nu Thuc Uyen, Deputy Director of Vietnam TBT Office under the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality, noted businesses that the UK is in the process of developing and promulgating regulations on TBT relating to new standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures for its own market when the country decided to leave the EU.
