More opportunities to export Vietnamese rice to Sweden from EVFTA

Taking advantage of Cambodia's rice being temporarily taxed for 3 years, commercial enterprises have shifted to importing Vietnamese rice to replace Cambodian rice in the Swedish market.

The Vietnam Trade Office in Sweden said that it has just completed a working visit to 9/12 of Sweden's largest Asian food import warehouses in the cities of Stockholm, Goteborg, Malmo, and Helsingborg.

According to the deal, although the population of Sweden is not much, but the amount of Asian food consumption is quite large, including mainly Thai, Korean and Chinese products. Goods from other countries, including Vietnamese products, still account for a relatively modest proportion. A lot of Asian food products are imported as rice, vermicelli, noodles, pho, beans, bamboo shoots, coconut milk, nuts, spices, frozen seafood ...

As for rice products, almost Vietnamese rice is absent in retail stores and supermarkets. According to ITC's statistics, in the period 2015-2018, Vietnam's rice import turnover to Sweden was only USD 100,000 / year on average. Other food products are imported with negligible turnover.

However, from the end of 2019 up to now, taking advantage of Cambodia's rice being temporarily taxed for 3 years, businesses have shifted to import Vietnamese rice to replace Cambodian rice.

Currently, Vietnamese rice is available at major supermarkets such as Willy, Ax Food, and most Asian food stores. It is expected that with the tariff rate quota that the EU applies to Vietnamese rice under EVFTA commitments, Vietnam's rice export turnover to Sweden will increase sharply in the coming time.

Particularly for seafood, Sweden imports 92% from Norway, while Vietnamese seafood such as frozen shrimp, pangasius, squid, and tuna are mainly imported through wholesalers in Ha. Lan, Denmark, Germany. While directly imported seafood from Vietnam currently accounts for only 1.2% of the market share, reaching nearly $ 10 million in 2019.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/them-co-hoi-xuat-khau-gao-viet-sang-thuy-dien-tu-evfta-20200820155636311.htm