Heavy reliance on China for agricultural exports has hurt Vietnamese farmers and businesses. Vietnam should expand its agricultural exports to other markets instead of being dependent on China, certainly now the Chinese standards on imported items are being tightened. China is now following international practices, tracing food origins and performing quality checks on imported agricultural produce, including those from Vietnam, said Tran Tuan Anh, Minister of Industry and Trade at the National Assembly meeting.
Vietnam’s northern neighbour used to allow 100 Vietnamese businesses to export rice, but now only 27 of them have this permit. Also, for years, China’s fluctuating agricultural demand has been hurting Vietnamese farmers. Many Chinese marketers cancelled deals with Vietnamese farmers, resulting in oversupply of seasonal produce, as has happened with watermelon and chillis. Last year, volunteers in Hanoi had to start “rescue campaigns” to sell nearly 300 tons of watermelons which were being left to rot as there was a lack of demand.
