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Taiwan, Vietnam and Philippines are emerging markets with promising opportunities for EU and US pork exporters, AHDB Pork said. Taiwan has the highest meat consumption per capita in Asia, with pork at around 39 kg per head. Although most of its consumption is served by domestic production, with self-sufficiency in 2013 reaching around 93 per cent. Taiwan was hit with an outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDv), which caused the loss of 150,000 piglets and a 10-year high in domestic pig prices. 

For many years, Vietnam has proven to be as one of the world's leading rice exporters but profits remain low because product branding has not been developed and quality has been unreliable. This issue topped the agenda of a recent conference held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to find a way to improve rice exports this year. Last year Vietnam exported 6.6 million tons of rice worth more than US$2.8 billion in revenue, up 4% in quantity but down 4.5% in export value.

British filmmaker and trade envoy David Puttnam has a long connection with Cambodia. The producer of the 1984 film The Killing Fields, he has returned frequently to the country as the UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. He recently sat down with the Post’s Cheng Sokhorng to discuss the role and importance of branding Cambodian products to increase their value and market penetration overseas.

AME Management: Overall, Canadian farmers get increased market access from TTP, plus better dispute settlement. The October 2015 Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement is a substantial trade treaty for its 12 members, and like other trade treaties, it will introduce concessions on market access, such as tariff reductions and increased import quotas, as discussed below. But there is also considerable focus on food safety regulations as well as on biotechnology and organic standards, since these can be major sources of non-tariff barriers (eg. I may try to make my food inspection rules or my organic standards a little different than yours so I can keep yours out).

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat said nearly 300,000 households (with approximately 1.5 million people) lost their income in recent months or were affected by drought and saltwater intrusion, the worst in the Mekong Delta in the last 100 years. Speaking at a seminar held on March 15 with foreign donors in response to droughts and saltwater intrusion in the southern part of the central region, the central highlands and the Mekong Delta, Phat said this year rice production in the Mekong Delta would seriously decline, affecting millions of farmers.

WHEN it comes to Asian ­opportunities for agriculture exports, Vietnam may be the sweet spot. It has one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, with a young population that is increasing its consumption of wheat, dairy and beef. According to ANZ Bank Vietnam chief executive Dennis Hussey, the Asian ­nation only “opened for business” in the mid 1990s when the US lifted trade sanctions after decades of war and ­conflict.

TAN UYEN TOWN, Vietnam—Industrial tire specialist Camso Ltd. has inaugurated production of solid forklift tires at a new plant in Vietnam’s Binh Duong Province, part of the company’s strategy to “gain leadership position” in the Asian materials-handling market. Camso—formerly Camoplast Solideal—built the 247,500-sq.-ft. factory in 14 months. It did not disclose its investment in the facility nor the production capacity. The plant employs 160.

Vietnam’s meat market is expected to be hit by the entry of many more European products following the enforcement of the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement in early 2018. Under the agreement’s (EVFTA) commitments, Vietnam will have to open its market up to a wide range of EU primary and processed meat products, allowing EU high-quality exports to reach the growing middle class consumer base in Vietnam. The EVFTA, due to be ratified later this year, is expected to scrap over 99% of import tariffs imposed by both Vietnam and the EU, as well as completely erase non-tariff trade barriers.

Though Vietnam has fulfilled the procedures and paper-work related to plant quarantines to enter new markets, many countries are still slow to accept Vietnam’s products. Hoang Trung, deputy director of the Plant Protection Agency, an arm of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), noted that Australia was very difficult to  please. Vietnam can only export litchis to the market. Vietnam has also fulfilled all necessary procedures to ask Australia to open its market to other Vietnam’s products, such as mango and dragon fruit. All the technical issues relating to mango exports have been settled. But Australian agencies will send staff to Vietnam to examine radiation establishments in Vietnam.

In spite of the fact that Vietnam has fulfilled the necessary procedures to enter new markets, such as Australia and Taiwan, uptake of Vietnamese products is still very slow. Hoang Trung, deputy director of the Plant Protection Agency, an arm of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), noted that Australia in particular is difficult to please and currently, the country is only accepting litchi exports.

HCM CITY (VNS) —  Rice exports have surged in the first two months as many of last year’s contracts are being executed this year, according to the Việt Nam Food Association. The country exported more than 856,219 tonnes for US$347.8 million, a year-on-year increase of 101.89 per cent and 81.73 per cent, and Huỳnh Minh Huệ, VFA general secretary, indicated there had been too many orders to handle last year, including some large government contracts with Indonesia and the Philippines.

Scientists are developing more resistant varieties of rice to help farmers in Vietnam adapt to climate change, amid the country’s worst drought in 90 years. The drought, as well as the related flow of saltwater upriver, has destroyed 159,000 hectares of rice paddies and left almost one million people lacking drinking water, according to a new UN report. Another half million hectares are expected to be damaged by mid-year.

There is nothing unusual, not in this era, about being a tiny, artisanal, single-origin chocolate maker. But the artisanal, award-winning chocolate I’ve come to see is being manufactured by a tiny operation called Marou in a factory on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, with beans that were hand-picked on a skinny strip of an island called Tan Phu Dong in the Mekong Delta. Vietnamese chocolate is unlike any other. It’s made mostly from a bean called trinitario, an 18th-century blend of forastero — the high-yield bean now used by Big Chocolate — and the rarer, more nuanced criollo. Marou’s chocolate has a particular complexity and variability, because unlike most chocolate makers, they can create theirs from beans they select at the source. This means they have control of everything, from farm to bar. The result is chocolate with unusual aromas — licorice, say, or tobacco.

Vietnam has taken a big step towards the development of a national forest certification system in line with the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) requirements, following the approval of Decision 83 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), which establishes a Vietnam Forest Certification Scheme (VFCS) Programme.

Vietnam will remove price controls on milk products for children under six-years-old by the beginning of next year. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh and minister of finance Dinh Tien Dung said the move has been sparked by concessions Vietnam has made in free-trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and its recent trade deal with the EU.  The announcement came days after the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) criticised the price ceilings. 

The forecast that Vietnam would become a leading flower export center in Asia mentioned in a Japanese journal has raised a debate about the potential of Vietnam in exporting fresh flower.  With ideal conditions in soil and climate, Vietnam in general and Lam Dong province in particular is considered the ‘golden land’ for developing tropical and temperate flowers. The favorable conditions have helped attract more and more foreign investors to Lam Dong province. They have developed growing areas, provided cultivation technique and helped establish distribution centers.