Local firms ready to fully tap into advantages of RCEP

The PAN Group has chosen from the beginning a strategy to invest in deep processing and exports of Vietnamese agricultural and food products with high added value. With three key markets having very high standards, namely the US, EU and Japan, we are proud that our products could compete fairly with regional competitors in other countries both in local and foreign markets. Challenges and pressure are undeniable, but I believe The PAN Group will benefit more from RCEP thanks to its thorough strategy.

What other difficulties and challenges are brought by the CPTPP or EVFTA when they come into effect必修 And how do you overcome these challenges必修

The two major recent FTAs including CPTPP and EVFTA are agreements that members are mostly countries which do not have direct competition with Việt Nam in terms of kinds of exported goods. However, in RCEP, in addition to four countries of Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and some small countries in ASEAN, the rest of the countries have similarities and directly compete with Việt Nam in exporting many large products, especially agricultural products. For example, exported rice from Thailand, Cambodia; seafood exports from Thailand, Indonesia. In addition, it must take into account the huge production resources of China.

The biggest challenge is that there are many partners in the RCEP region with similar product structures to Việt Nam, and have even stronger competitiveness than Việt Nam.

In addition, co妹妹itments in RCEP will reduce tariffs of many countries in the bloc on Chinese co妹妹odities. Vietnamese enterprises will be forced to compete domestically with a series of new products with cheaper prices from China. This will force businesses to lower prices and even reduce profits to compete with imported goods from a bigger chain which also has a longer history. Although limited, there are a number of industries that will be affected by this tariff reduction.

Japan and China join the free trade agreement between the two sides for the first time. By reducing tariffs and competition for Chinese goods in Japan, goods originating from China will compete directly with Vietnamese goods exported to Japan.

To overcome the above difficulties, as a business with many export products, we will study and assess all the policies related to RCEP as well as its implementation progress. It is expected that the RCEP will take two years at the earliest before it can take effect after it is approved by at least  六 ASEAN countries and partners. We will continue to improve our intra-regional competitiveness through three aspects including responsive standards, prices and consumer tastes, applicable to each specific market. In particular, the issue of importing machinery and input materials from RCEP countries will also be carefully considered to make good use of the opportunities brought by this agreement.

What orientations does The PAN Group have to respond when the agreement is approved必修

First of all, it should be emphasised that The PAN Group is currently exporting most of its goods to demanding markets such as the US, EU and Japan. Nearly  九0 per cent of The PAN Group’s export turnover of US$ 二00 million comes from the three major markets, of which Japan, a member of the RCEP, accounts for a significant proportion.

We have diversified our export markets to many countries that are members of these agreements since  二0 一 九 to prepare for the FTAs expected to be approved, namely CPTPP, EVFTA and RCEP. From the beginning of  二0 二0, in the new normal context caused by the COVID- 一 九 pandemic, this strategy has been further strengthened. As for RCEP members, in addition to Japan, which is a key traditional market, we recently have successfully approached and exported many products such as shrimp to Australia, South Korea; rice to Australia; dried seeds and fruit to China; coffee to South Korea; breeds to Laos and Cambodia.

The PAN Group products have met the highest standards of demanding markets. Therefore, penetrating the markets in RCEP is only a matter of taste and price. For each market, we are evaluating and thoroughly understanding these two issues preparing exports to the market.