Vietnam's export turnover to Italy has increased sharply since the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) took effect; however, Vietnamese enterprises still face difficulties when entering the market. Those are the technical standards, the regulations on packaging certification, or the complicated legal environment.
Do not miss the opportunities from EVFTA
In the European Union (EU), Italy is Vietnam's fourth largest trading partner, behind only the Netherlands, Germany and France. If excluding imports to Germany, France and the Netherlands for transshipment to other countries, Italy's position will be even higher.
Vietnam is the first country among importers of shelled cashews to Italian market
According to statistics of the General Department of Customs, in 7 months of 2021, bilateral trade turnover reached more than 3.27 billion USD; in which Vietnam's exports to Italy reached more than 2.2 billion USD, and imports from Italy 1.07 billion USD. In the 11 months since the EVFTA Agreement officially took effect (from August 2020 to the end of June 2021), the export turnover of Vietnam and Italy reached $7.8 billion, up 22.8% compared to the same period before the EVFTA (from August 2019 to the end of June 2020). In which, seafood products reached 244 million USD, up 57% over the same period before EVFTA.
The main export items of Vietnam to the Italian market include: computers, electronic products and components, phones and components, machinery, spare parts, aquatic products, coffee, textiles and garments. , footwear... Notably, Vietnam is the first country among Italy's importers of shelled cashews (HS code: 080132), accounting for about 60-70% of the total cashew import turnover of Italy.
Based on the market demand of the host country, the Vietnam-Italy Trade Office said that with the advantage of the EVFTA Agreement, Vietnamese enterprises can promote the further development of agricultural, aquatic and rice products. ... in this market. For example, seafood products, up to 51.8% of tariff lines under Chapter 3 in the HS code of goods exported to the EU will be eliminated from import tax in the EU as soon as the EVFTA comes into effect… Or tea, coffee, 100% of tax lines will be eliminated to 0%; cinnamon, star anise, pepper, cashew, fruit, up to 86.3% of tax lines will be 0%.
In particular, for rice, the EU gives Vietnam a TRQ tariff quota of 80,000 tons of rice per year (including 30,000 tons of milled rice, 20,000 tons of unmilled rice and 30,000 tons of fragrant rice). The EU will fully liberalize broken rice, with no quotas imposed. Meanwhile, Italy is a fairly large rice importer and exporter in the EU. However, Vietnam's rice exports to this market only account for 3.1% of Italy's rice import market share. Thus, there is still a lot of room for rice products to promote and develop in this market.
The Vietnam Trade Office in Italy said that Vietnamese businesses need to take advantage soon so as not to miss the incentives that the EVFTA Agreement brings.
Still having trouble
Although there are many opportunities to enter this market, many Vietnamese enterprises still face difficulties when exporting to Italy.
“The difficulties that Vietnamese businesses face when exporting to the EU market are similar to those when working with Italian businesses such as: technical standards, certification regulations, and packaging. ..” - representative of the Vietnam Trade Office in Italy shared.
In addition, when doing business with Italian enterprises, Vietnamese enterprises also face a number of other difficulties such as a very complicated legal environment and sometimes a lack of transparency, clarity and efficiency; products related to health, safety or the environment are subject to high technical regulations and standards, sometimes even higher than the basic EU requirements.
Language is also an obstacle for Vietnamese businesses because according to the commercial tradition, Italians often use Italian, which is familiar with partners in Europe, South America and Africa where there are many Europeans. , who is of Italian descent doing business.
Large Vietnamese enterprises and FDI enterprises are having business relations with multinational enterprises and Italy's have a relatively stable market. However, Vietnamese small and medium enterprises with small production scale, prices and designs are still difficult to compete with goods of some other countries. The Vietnam Trade Office in Italy recommends that, in order to develop business in this market, enterprises need to be knowledgeable about the market of the product they intend to export, find out the market share of that product's competitors: Besides, , it is necessary to understand and meet consumer tastes, right from taste, packaging, food safety, and goods that want to be exported to Italy need to comply with very high standards on labor and environment.. .
Especially, when doing import-export transactions with small and medium-sized enterprises in Italy, Vietnamese businesses need to be careful, because there have been some cases of companies being scammed.
Currently, the Trade Office is having to support a number of Vietnamese businesses being cheated, such as: Italian companies receive deposits and do not deliver, or only partially deposit for Vietnamese companies to deliver goods to Italy and Italian businesses find a way. pick up the goods without paying the rest...
In the coming time, the Trade Office will continue to promote EVFTA implementation activities, coordinate with the Preparator of the 7th Session, the Vietnam - Italy Joint Economic Commission in 2021 to meet in Rome, Italy; promote activities to support enterprises in finding partners; Support Vietnamese businesses to demand money, delivery and other fraud cases...
Source: Thu Phuong - Industry & Trading Nespaper
