The EU will require Vietnamese exports to meet the environmental requirements of the European Green Deal, the European Union's flagship strategy aiming to make the continent carbon neutral by 2050.

Vietnamese agricultural products are displayed at AEON supermarket in Hanoi. Photo: Hoai Nam/The Hanoi Times

The Ministry of Industry and Trade highlighted this requirement in the context that the number of Vietnamese goods exported through overseas distribution networks is increasing. 

In recent years, Vietnamese agricultural products such as lychee, dragon fruit, bananas, and fish sauce have been sold in large supermarkets in France, Australia, the United States, Japan, and Thailand.

As the EU is a major market for Vietnamese exports,  the approval of this sustainability-oriented policy will create new challenges and opportunities for Vietnamese businesses, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Nguyen Thi Hoang Thuy, Vietnamese Trade Counselor in Sweden, said the European Green Agreement will have an impact on the export of Vietnamese products to the EU, including textiles and garments, and footwear.

Thuy added that, in particular, the EU will require textile products to be manufactured using environmentally friendly materials and processes, as well as eco-labels on product packaging.

The eco-labeling regulation will also affect Vietnamese packaging producers and those using packaging for export products, she said, adding that agribusinesses must shift their production processes toward reducing waste and the use of harmful chemicals.

Thuy said that in order to export to the EU in general and the Nordic countries in particular, Vietnamese businesses must be well aware of the changes that the new European growth strategy will bring and asked them to be prepared to adapt to the challenges and maintain competitiveness in the EU market.

“The Vietnamese exporters need to embrace new trends to create more sustainable and environmentally friendly products,” she stressed.

According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai, in recent years, in order for Vietnamese products to penetrate the international retail system, a series of Vietnamese Products Weeks have been held in Japan and Europe. 

Through this activity, Vietnamese goods have been sold in hundreds of supermarkets in AEON's distribution network in Japan.

At a recent meeting in February, AEON TOPVALU Vietnam general director Shiotani Yuichiro said that from 2022, the Japanese retailer will source bananas from Vietnam instead of the Philippines.  Vietnamese bananas have received good responses from customers, who said the taste of this Vietnamese fruit is better than those from other countries. 

He added that this is because Vietnamese bananas are grown according to a circular manufacturing system in which the producer applies an integrated model of aquaculture and livestock farming, and then uses the fertilizer from the model to fertilize the banana trees. 

With this closed model, the amount of waste is almost zero, meeting AEON's environmentally friendly manufacturing standards, Shiotani Yuichiro underlined, adding that the Japanese retailer will increase the import volume of Vietnamese bananas into its distribution system. 

Statistics from Vietnam's General Department of Customs showed that, in 2022, trade turnover between Vietnam and the EU reached $61.3 billion, of which the value of Vietnam's exports to the EU hit $46.06 billion, while imports from the EU amounted to $15.26 billion.