Need to develop processing industry in large raw material areas

This is the proposal of the enterprise at the 10th National Farmers' Forum in 2025: Chairman of the Vietnam Farmers' Union and Minister of Industry and Trade - Listening to farmers speak, with the theme "Connecting markets - Building brands - Promoting agricultural product consumption, contributing to the country's double-digit economic growth" taking place on the morning of October 1 in Hanoi.

Market and trade - "extended arms" bringing Vietnamese agricultural products far and wide

Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Association Luong Quoc Doan said that in 2024, the export turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products will reach a record of 62.5 billion USD. In the first 8 months of 2025, the export value of the whole industry will reach 45.57 billion USD with 10 key commodity groups such as rice, coffee, pepper, cashew, shrimp, tra fish, wood and wood products... reaching a turnover of 1 billion USD or more. Currently, our country's agricultural, forestry and fishery products are present in the markets of more than 190 countries and territories. This result is the labor and production efforts of farmers and also the result of the strategy, open-door policy, and continuous development of the agricultural market of the industry and trade sector.

Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union Luong Quoc Doan spoke at the forum.

However, to achieve the export target of 70 billion USD this year and 100 billion USD by 2030, there are still many challenges, especially in the context of increasingly fierce trade competition, especially the US imposing reciprocal export taxes on many countries, including Vietnam; access to new markets is still limited, many agricultural products are exported in raw form, 80% of products do not have their own brand; domestic market development has not been focused on.

“To achieve the target of high growth, the agricultural sector and farmers alone cannot solve it, but need the companionship, connection and participation of related sectors, including the Ministry of Industry and Trade,” Minister Nguyen Hong Dien emphasized; at the same time, he said that if production is the root, the market and trade are the “extended arms” to bring Vietnamese agricultural products further, and therefore the role of the Ministry of Industry and Trade becomes even more important.

At the Forum, representatives of cooperatives and farmers raised many concerns about product output, especially OCOP products; the situation of counterfeit and fake goods affecting genuine businesses; bringing agricultural products to e-commerce platforms faces many challenges...; Ms. Chao Thi Yen, Goong Knowledge - Indigenous Cooperative ( Lao Cai ) said that bringing local agricultural products to e-commerce platforms will help promote better, but the challenge is that platform fees are high while profit margins are very low; platforms also set strict and difficult conditions for agricultural products; transportation costs for many orders are high, even double the value of the product...

Mr. Pham Hong Duy, Deputy Director of An Phat General Agricultural Service Cooperative (Hanoi) - a unit that cooperates with farmers to build a closed food supply chain, is concerned that the continuous stormy weather has caused farmers to suffer losses. "How can we help the cooperative minimize losses and avoid falling into a crisis of shortage and surplus?", Mr. Duy said.

Do not "forget" the domestic market

The issues raised at the Forum were answered by representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment as well as the two co-chairs of the Forum, the Minister of Industry and Trade and the Chairman of the Vietnam Farmers' Union, with specific directions.

According to the Director of the Trade Promotion Agency Vu Ba Phu, in the context of markets increasingly raising requirements for quality, green transformation, sustainable development, and traceability to the dining table, cooperatives and OCOP entities must pay attention to production according to standards. This not only serves the export market, but domestically, it must also meet quality standards and regulations; focus on packaging, brand building, trademark registration, etc.

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien emphasized that agricultural production must start from market signals, clearly defining what to do, where to sell, and at what price, instead of doing it out of habit, finishing the work and then looking for a place to sell; in trade, contracts must be clear and exports must be official.

According to the minister, agricultural economics requires planning of growing and raising areas and must meet the demands of consumers. Now there is no longer “two rows of vegetables, two pigsties”, but must be green and clean production because “if it is not clean, who can we sell it to?”.

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien noted that the domestic market should not be “forgotten” because the demand of more than 100 million people is very large, many people are willing to buy foreign products while the quality “is not necessarily better than domestic products”. Therefore, along with developing the export market, producers and supporters need to pay attention to building a strategy to develop the market and ensure domestic consumption is safe and effective.

Director of Binh Minh Organic Agriculture Cooperative (Bac Ninh) Nguyen Ngoc Hai said that to increase the value of products, processing is required, but currently the biggest problem is technology and solutions for processing and consumption. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on this work.

Director of Huy Long An Co., Ltd. Vo Quan Huy suggested that the Ministry of Industry and Trade should develop a policy to develop agricultural and forestry processing in large raw material areas to reduce the pressure of harvest season and serve diverse markets. Along with that, ministries and branches need to promote the substantial expansion of the Halal market.

Acknowledging the opinions of representatives of enterprises, cooperatives, and farmers, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien said that after the Forum, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will continue to coordinate with the Vietnam Farmers' Union to fully synthesize recommendations and proposals to focus on resolving them within their authority or report to competent authorities for consideration and direction.

The Minister also pledged that the Ministry of Industry and Trade will accompany and closely coordinate with the Vietnam Farmers' Union and ministries, branches and localities in building mechanisms and policies to encourage and support the development of the processing industry, logistics systems, brand building, market connection and promoting the consumption of agricultural products.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/can-phat-trien-cong-nghiep-che-bien-tai-vung-nguyen-lieu-lon-10388762.html