Vietnam’s farm produce exports are experiencing difficulties due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in traditional markets such as China and the EU.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh held phone talks with the Director of China’s General Administration of Customs Ni Yuefeng and Minister of Commerce Zhong San on April 17 to identify measures aimed at addressing the growing backlog of Vietnamese exports at border areas since the beginning of this month.

A sharp decline in consumer demand has severely affected domestic production, trade and exports. To overcome difficulties for businesses, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has adjusted its trade promotion plan and cooperated with other ministries and agencies to stimulate consumer demand and seek export markets for Vietnamese goods.

Vietnam gained shrimp export growth to some key export markets in the first quarter of this year, especially Japan and the US, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has announced the official results of the 15th period of anti-dumping duty review (POR15) for the period from August 1, 2017, to July 31, 2018, regarding Vietnamese tra and basa products exported to the US.

Vietnam's export value saw a year-on-year increase of 4.7 percent to an estimated 82.9 billion USD in the first four months of this year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Vietnam’s total seafood export value in the first fourth months of this year fell by 10% to US$2.18 billion due to the impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic, according to the Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In the first quarter of 2020, many Mekong Delta provinces experienced a slight increase in exports compared to the same period last year, although they failed to reach their targets due to the expanding Covid-19 pandemic that has caused foreign trade to stagnate.

The Covid-19 pandemic has posed difficulties for Vietnam’s exports to the US and the EU.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has proposed Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) to consider special and creative solutions solving difficulties for Vietnam’s export of fresh lychees to Japan.

The Covid-19 pandemic is a major upheaval, but also an opportunity for the agro-forestry-fishery sector to diversify export markets, avoiding dependence on traditional markets.

The coffee industry was expected to prosper in 2020, but coffee prices have plummeted to their lowest level over a decade due to the Covid-19 pandemic and show no signs of recovery in the foreseeable future.