Consumers buy imported vegetables at a supermarket. (Photo: SGGP)
Diverse imported goods
In mid-November, at Hoang Gia Seafood Store in To Hien Thanh Street in District 10 of HCMC, Shanghai hairy crabs were in great demand, although the price was nearly VND900,000 per kg. An employee of the store said that because the harvest season for hairy crabs was short, many people who wanted to eat them must place orders in advance. Not only hairy crabs, many other imported high-quality seafood products, such as King crabs with a price of more than VND2 million per kg, South Australian lobsters with VND2.4 million per kg, Western Australian lobsters with VND2.3 million per kg, and Korean halibuts with VND800,000 per kg, have also been available more and more at seafood stores.
Besides seafood, many other imported agricultural products are relatively abundant. At Emart Go Vap Supermarket (HCMC), various imported vegetables, including purple cabbage buds, Australian rainbow chard, Australian lettuce, Korean bell peppers, Australian cauliflower, Australian purple cauliflower, Australian red cabbage, and Korean enoki mushrooms, are displayed for sale.
To Thi Ngoc Bich, a resident in Go Vap District, said while choosing imported vegetables that imported products were more expensive than Vietnamese ones, but in return, she felt assured of the quality.
According to the representative of Emart Supermarket, for agricultural products from Korea, his unit imports them directly, whereas other products are often imported through partner companies. "Imported products are sold very well despite higher prices than Vietnamese ones," he revealed.
Similarly, Kingfoodmart Store in Hoang Hoa Tham Street in Tan Binh District imports Australian spinach, Australian baby lettuce, Australian mixed baby lettuce for a few hundred thousand Vietnamese dongs per kilogram, and sells them well. Many social networking sites also sell seasonal imported frozen agricultural and aquatic products, usually 20-40 percent cheaper than stores, depending on the type, and are also well received by many consumers.
According to the MARD, in the first ten months of this year, Vietnam's import turnover of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products is estimated at US$35.6 billion, up 39.1 percent over the same period last year. Vietnam spent more than $1.2 billion to import vegetables and fruits from other countries, up 14.6 percent year-on-year, and $1.6 billion to import aquatic products, up 11.7 percent year-on-year.
Imported seafood are sold at many stores. (Photo: SGGP)
According to the New Zealand Embassy, Vietnam imports various types of frozen fruits, vegetables, tubers, and aquatic products from New Zealand, such as bivalve scallops, squid, fish, paua, lobster, oyster, and tuna. To facilitate trade activities between businesses of the two countries, in 2020, the New Zealand Embassy, the MARD, and the Ministry of Finance signed an agreement on an electronic certification system for agricultural, forestry, aquatic, and food products of the two countries. It is a method of information exchange and online consensus between the two governments to facilitate customs clearance for agricultural, aquatic, and food products.
The exchange of electronic certification data helps to simplify the import and export process, speed up the customs clearance process, reduce costs, enhance reliability and transparency, and at the same time minimize the risk of fraud in the trade of goods. Currently, the Ministry of Primary Industries of New Zealand and the MARD of Vietnam have been completing the procedures for licensing the import of New Zealand strawberries and zucchini into Vietnam.
