Opportunities for Vietnamese agricultural products to enter new markets

In addition to traditional markets such as China, EU, the US and Australia, many agricultural products of Vietnam have witnessed increasing favour in potential markets including Algeria and Turkey, becoming an opportunity for enterprises to expand export markets, especially amid the development of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Open opportunities

According to Hoang Duc Nhuan, Vietnamese Trade Counsellor in Algeria and concurrently in Gambia, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Tunisia, coffee is the favourite drink of Algeirans. On average, a person consumes more than 3kg per year. Every year, Algeria imports about 130,000 tonnes of coffee beans of all kinds, worth US$300 million. Robusta coffee accounts for the majority of Algeria’s total coffee import turnover (more than 85%). The main coffee exporting partners of Algeria are Vietnam, Ivory Coast, Indonesia, Brazil and Italy.

Over the years, coffee has always been Vietnam's top export item to Algeria. Vietnam's coffee market share usually remains at the highest level, accounting for more than 50%. However, Algeria is still a potential market for Vietnamese coffee. In addition to green coffee, Vietnamese enterprises can boost exports of processed and instant coffee with higher added value.

Regarding rice, Algeria does not produce this crop, so this commodity has been entirely imported. The country imports around 100,000 tonnes of rice per year, mainly white, long grain, 5% broken and parboiled rice. This market is considered to still be promising for Vietnamese rice because people are used to using Vietnamese rice.

On the other hand, the number of Asian workers in Algeria has been increasing, especially Chinese people. The number of Vietnamese workers for Chinese, Japanese, French and Algerian contractors in particular has reached 4,000. This will contribute to an increasing demand for rice in the Algerian market.

In addition, Algeria’s demand for importing spices, especially pepper, is quite high because they are not produced in the country. Cinnamon is also a potential commodity for export to Algeria. Vietnam’s cinnamon export turnover to the country was US$2.1 million in 2020.

According to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), the country imported over 3,764 tonnes of black pepper worth over US$7.21 million in the first six months of 2021, a year-on-year increase of 9.4% in volume and 13.6% in value. Notably, Vietnam continued to be the largest exporter to this market with over 2,236 tonnes and turnover of over US$4.32 million in the first half of this year, a sharp increase both in volume and value, accounting for nearly 60% of the market share of export value to Turkey.

Regarding coffee, Vietnam ranked ninth among exporters to Turkey in the first six months. However, in fact, the quantity is extremely limited with around 103 tonnes worth US$192,460, a sharp decrease of 55.2% in value compared to the same period last year and accounting for only 0.2% of export turnover of green coffee to Turkey. Opportunities will be expanded in the near future for Vietnamese businesses capable of producing Arabica and Robusta green coffee.

Identifying key exported products

A representative from Vietnam Trade Office in Turkey said the country is also a large tea consumption market, but mainly black tea. Meanwhile, Vietnam developed more kinds of green tea than black tea. Therefore, Vietnam’s tea export turnover to Turkey is not high. On the other hand, Vietnamese tea enterprises have not focused on their exports to this market. If the businesses want to increase their turnover, they need to define black tea as a key commodity in the near future.

Turkey also increased rice imports from Vietnam with 1,798 tonnes worth over US$1.29 million in the first six months of 2021. This is a relatively low number and the Turkish market has mainly distributed two types of rice from Thailand and India, namely Jasmine and Basmati. A reason for this low rate was that Vietnamese rice export businesses have not paid much attention to trade promotion; meanwhile, Thailand has invited all rice production and trading enterprises from Turkey to visit manufacturers in the country.

For the Algerian market in particular and Africa in general, Vietnam Trade Counsellor Hoang Duc Nhuan noted that with a total population of about 1.3 billion people and diverse demand, the African market has a lot of potential for Vietnamese agricultural exporters to exploit and conquer.

Enterprises should seek partners through channels such as trade promotion programmes, international fairs and exhibitions, business forums, direct trades and referrals from contact agencies Vietnam Trade Office in Africa and familiar customers.

In the last months of 2021, the Vietnam Trade Office in Algeria will display and introduce Vietnamese agricultural and aquatic products as well as their catalogues, samples, and publications. In addition, several webinars will be held to introduce the markets of Algeria, Senegal, Tunisia, Mali, Gambia and Niger for Vietnamese businesses. Meanwhile, a business manual for the Algerian market will be published. The relevant agencies will continue to provide Vietnamese enterprises with market information and business opportunities in the field of agricultural and aquatic products.