Binh Phuoc Province requests list of enterprises of agriculural export to China

An official letter has been issued by Binh Phuoc Provincial People's Committee to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Department of Finance, the Department of Industry and Trade and a number of other relevant organizations to continue to promote the consumption of local agricultural products and meet the requirements of China’s new imported food requirements – Decrees 248 and 249.

Specifically, the provincial People’s Committee asked the People's Committees of districts, towns and cities to review the capacity and needs of agricultural enterprises, while effectively connecting domestic markets with local enterprises, cooperatives and farmers.

At the same time, the district-level People's Committees are responsible for updating the list of enterprises and cooperatives that want to export agricultural products to the Chinese markets. Then, they are requested to synthesize and send it to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for monitoring and guidance according to regulations.

"Relevant agencies, units and localities are required to urgently implement the request. Any arising problems must be reported to the Provincial People's Committee through the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for consideration", Dispatch 1523 stated.

The direction of Binh Phuoc Provincial People's Committee came about 2 weeks after the Viet Nam Sanitary and Phytosaniary Notification Authority and Enquiry Point (Vietnam SPS) coordinated with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to organize a conference to disseminate regulations, implement SPS commitments in the world free trade agreement and update requirements on SPS in the Chinese market.

Addressing at this conference, Deputy Director of Binh Phuoc Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Le Thi Anh Tuyet, spoke highly of its importance.

"The conference is very meaningful because it helps cooperatives, farmers and businesses understand clearly about the implementation of SPS commitments. From there, the locality has useful information and avoids risks to promote production and export of agricultural products,” she said.

In the manner of quick and timely implementation of Official Letter 1523, the province focuses on researching and forecasting the market information in the field of export.

In addition, the functional branches of the province will create favorable conditions for businesses in the area to visit and learn from experience of foreign markets, in addition to promoting trade activities, participating in trade fairs, increasing direct export turnover and official export.

Along with maintaining trade activities with the traditional Chinese market, the province will research and test deep-processed cashew, thereby building trade promotion programs with fastidious market groups such as the US, Europe, Japan, and South Korea.

Binh Phuoc is considered the largest cashew producer of the Vietnam. According to data at the beginning of 2022, the province has about 280 cashew businesses and more than 400 cashew processing establishments, among which, about 30 enterprises involved in exporting.

In the past two years, the cashew industry in the whole country in general and Binh Phuoc in particular has focused on taking processing as the center, with an aim to improve the product value so that cashew growers gradually improve their income from this crop.

The province has paid special attention to 3 areas: cultivating; processing, import and export of cashew and policy. The Provincial People's Committee has assigned specific implementation tasks to 25 units, with 10 focal points divided into 3 groups of tasks.

In addition to seed solutions to achieve productivity from 2.5-4.5 tons/ha, the province has also developed quality management programs according to GMP, HACCP, ISO 22000 standards…; built traceability software; supported and guided cashew processing enterprises granted geographical indication "Binh Phuoc".

About 170,000 ha of cashew are being grown in the Binh Phuoc, mostly in the districts of Phu Rieng, Bu Gia Map, Bu Dang, and Dong Phu, which generate 243,000 tonnes each year, according to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The province exported more than $1 billion worth of cashew products last year, accounting for 27 per cent of the country’s total exports. Binh Phuoc cashew industry has set an average annual export target of 1 billion USD.

In April 2021, the General Administration of Customs of China issued Decree 248 on the "Regulations on the Registration and Administration of Overseas Producers of Imported Food" and Decree 249 on the "Administrative Measures on Import and Export Food Safety". These two Decrees take effect from January 1, 2022. Foreign enterprises, including Vietnam, who want to export to the Chinese market, must comply with new regulations.