Ensuring production and consumption of agricultural, forestry and fishery products in the face of global trade fluctuations

Rice production for export. Photo: Vietnam+

Telegram sent to the Ministers of Agriculture and Environment, Industry and Trade, Finance, Foreign Affairs , Science and Technology, National Defense, Public Security; Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam and Chairmen of People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities.

In recent years, agricultural, forestry and fishery production, especially food production in our country, has always been stable, maintaining a fairly good growth momentum, each year higher than the previous year, the export value of agricultural, forestry and fishery products in 2024 reached 62.5 billion USD (a record high). Recently, especially in the coming time, the global trade situation may fluctuate strongly due to changes in tariff policies of some countries, which may affect production and export in general and production and consumption of agricultural, forestry and fishery products in particular. However, this is also an opportunity for industries, localities, businesses and people to promote transformation and diversification of products and markets for sustainable production.

Temporary purchase and storage of goods at risk of falling prices during peak harvest

To proactively respond to the impacts of trade instability, ensure stable production and consumption of agricultural, forestry and fishery products, and improve people's income and living standards, the Prime Minister requested the ministers of the ministries of Agriculture and Environment, Industry and Trade, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Science and Technology, the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, and the Chairmen of the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities, according to their assigned functions and tasks, to continue to closely monitor the situation and developments in global trade, proactively direct and promptly and flexibly deploy appropriate and effective solutions to proactively respond to challenges caused by trade instability.

Ministries and sectors provide timely information so that enterprises producing, trading and exporting agricultural, forestry and fishery products can proactively and flexibly adapt to import policies and tariff policies of importing countries to stabilize production and export of agricultural, forestry and fishery products.

The Prime Minister assigned the Minister of Agriculture and Environment to continue to focus on directing localities to boost agricultural production, especially food and foodstuffs, to ensure supply to fully meet domestic demand, while serving exports, and firmly ensuring national food security in all situations.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment proactively coordinates with ministries, branches and localities to propose appropriate solutions to ensure production and consumption of agricultural, forestry and fishery products, avoiding disruption of the supply chain, affecting production and people's lives.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment focuses on directing the restructuring of the agricultural sector towards large-scale commodity production, developing green, organic, circular, and sustainable agriculture, and continuing to effectively implement the Project on sustainable development of one million hectares of high-quality and low-emission rice cultivation associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta by 2030.

The Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to coordinate with industry associations, businesses and localities to review planning and production plans towards product and market diversification to proactively and flexibly adapt to fluctuations and new market demands; promote the development of geographical indications, product brands, issue codes for growing and farming areas, build a strict system of tracing the origin of goods, avoid trade fraud, especially for industries with high risk of evading origin.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment needs to promote research, application of science and technology, innovation, digital transformation in the agricultural sector, focusing on research and putting into use new plant and animal varieties with high productivity, good quality, adapting to climate change; prioritizing research on technology application, technical support for preservation and deep processing, especially for high-value products (such as shrimp, pangasius, fresh fruit) to shift from raw exports to refined products, canned goods for export and domestic market, increasing the added value of agricultural products.

In particular, the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and relevant agencies to proactively study plans to support temporary purchase and storage of a number of commodities at risk of falling prices during peak harvest times, especially rice, coffee, and pepper, to limit the impact on farmers' income.

Trade promotion, export market diversification

The Prime Minister assigned the Minister of Industry and Trade to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to direct the strengthening of trade promotion and negotiations with countries with potential markets to continue expanding and diversifying export markets, especially major partners with FTA agreements with Vietnam, diversifying products and supply chains, and at the same time implementing connection programs, organizing agricultural weeks and Vietnamese goods fairs to exploit the potential of domestic markets and foreign markets; proactively taking appropriate defense measures to protect domestic production.

The Ministry of Finance continues to direct the resolution of difficulties, reform administrative procedures, simplify import and export customs clearance procedures, shorten VAT refund time, implement policies on tax deferral and refund, and land rent in accordance with the law to contribute to reducing compliance costs and enhancing the competitiveness of domestic agricultural products; preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and relevant agencies to research and propose appropriate tax policies, especially for agricultural, forestry and fishery products affected by trade instability to support businesses in finding new alternative markets.

The State Bank of Vietnam directs the maintenance and expansion of preferential credit packages for the agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors; continues to provide loans to support businesses in maintaining production, creating conditions to ensure jobs, livelihoods, income and life for workers.

Processing seafood for export. Photo: Vietnam+

Strictly manage the use of additives and processing aids.

The Prime Minister requested the Chairmen of the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities to closely monitor the situation, proactively direct and deploy solutions to ensure production and consumption of agricultural, forestry and fishery products in the area; direct local authorities to strengthen inspection, prevent fraud, disguised origin of goods, prevent counterfeit and poor quality goods; strictly manage the use of additives, processing aids, and post-harvest preservation of agricultural products, and overcome the use of chemicals that are harmful to consumers' health and affect the reputation and quality of Vietnamese agricultural products.

Localities are responsible for strictly handling cases of origin fraud, price gouging, information disruption, and market manipulation that cause market instability; and are responsible for ensuring security, safety, environmental hygiene, and food in their localities.

Enterprises producing, trading and exporting agricultural, forestry and fishery products should closely monitor information on global trade developments, especially tariff policies of some traditional markets, to flexibly adjust production and business plans in order to proactively and effectively adapt to market fluctuations.

Enterprises should promote the construction of linkage chains, invest in developing raw material areas, cold storage systems, apply modern technology to production, deep processing, preservation of agricultural products, and brand building; regularly grasp the agricultural import policies of other countries, avoid being passive and surprised by policy changes of importing countries; increase the purchase of agricultural and aquatic products, especially during peak harvest times, to support people's consumption and serve deep processing, improving product quality.

The Government Office, according to its assigned functions and tasks, shall monitor and urge the implementation of this dispatch; promptly report to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in charge on any urgent or arising issues.

Source: https://baophuyen.vn/kinh-te/202505/dam-bao-san-xuat-tieu-thu-nong-lam-thuy-san-truoc-bien-dong-thuong-mai-toan-cau-dfe0bfe/