Taking advantage of incentives from FTAs
Fluctuations in the world's economic and political situation have caused difficulties for manufacturing and exporting businesses, including EDE Farm Service Trading Company Limited (owner of the Miss Ede brand). Instead of passively waiting for the market, businesses proactively approach markets with Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), including the Korean market, to take advantage of tariff incentives. Coffee is also one of the four export items to Korea with the best rate of using tariff incentives under FTAs at 94.54%.
Talking to reporters of Cong Thuong Newspaper, Mr. Hoang Danh Huu - CEO of EDE said: "3,600 packages of Miss Ede Vietnam Robusta coffee are on their way to Korea after experts tasted and completed the final stages. Not only stopping at meeting food safety and hygiene, we also bring to consumers Miss Ede coffee packages with stable quality through different batches based on the flavor scorecard according to SCA standards - Premium Coffee Association".
According to Mr. Hoang Danh Huu, the consumption trend in the Korean market may be different from the US, EU... markets, but Vietnamese agricultural products in general and coffee in particular will have their own niches in this market if we take advantage of the large coffee growing area, reasonable costs and no tariff barriers. Diversifying export markets helps businesses not be passive compared to "putting all eggs in one basket".
Along with the export market, businesses are also focusing on the domestic market to ensure safety and profit. Because even if they export abroad with their own brands, the profit margin of the business is not as large as in the domestic retail market. "As a small and medium-sized enterprise, although it has exported with its own packaging and brands, in order for foreign consumers to accept the new product, the business must spend a lot of money to implement sales and marketing programs," Mr. Hoang Danh Huu informed.
In the textile and garment sector, speaking to reporters from the Industry and Trade Newspaper, Mr. Pham Van Viet - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Viet Thang Jean Company Limited (VitaJean) said that the company is currently shifting its export direction to the EU, Japan, and South Korea markets.
The company is negotiating with EU partners to increase orders in the coming time. The basic quality and origin standards have been met, and the company expects purchasing power in the EU market to increase again after a period of being at a low level.
Accelerating the transformation of the competitive model from quantity to quality
According to a report by the General Statistics Office (Ministry of Finance), in April 2025, export turnover reached 37.45 billion USD, down 2.8% compared to March, mainly due to a 6% decrease in the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector. In the first 4 months of the year, the total export turnover reached 140.34 billion USD, up 13%. Commodity exports continue to be a bright spot in the trade picture.
In the report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, in April 2025, agricultural, forestry and fishery exports reached 5.47 billion USD, up 5.4% over the same period last year. In the first 4 months of 2025, all export groups increased compared to the same period last year, bringing the total export turnover of the industry to 21.15 billion USD, up 10.7%.
Of which, agricultural exports reached 11.6 billion USD, up 11.7%; forestry exports reached 5.56 billion USD, up 11.2%; aquatic exports reached 3.09 billion USD, up 13.7%; livestock product exports reached 178 million USD, up 16.8%; production input exports reached 722 million USD, up 20% over the same period last year.
In the first 4 months of the year, 6 items achieved an export value of over 1 billion USD, 2 items achieved over 3 billion USD and most of the key items achieved higher export value than the same period last year.
In the bright and dark picture of the export market, there is a positive signal when recently, the Department of Agriculture and Environment, Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) announced that the US side approved 3 lychee growing area codes of the province to export to this market, bringing the total number of export growing area codes of the whole province to more than 240 codes with nearly 18 thousand hectares.
The US side's approval of growing area codes opens up opportunities for lychee to export to high-end markets, increasing brand value, contributing to increasing income for local people. This is also an important step in the strategy to bring lychee to the international market.
Although the market is still experiencing certain "shakes", however, with the initiative and flexibility of businesses and the participation of authorities, experts believe that the export of goods in general and agricultural, forestry and fishery products in particular will reach the finish line.
The fluctuations in the export market are challenges but also opportunities for businesses to "shock" themselves. This is the time when Vietnamese businesses need to be really serious in accelerating the transformation of the competitive model from low prices to quality, sustainability and traceability. At the same time, invest in the strict standards required by the markets to increase consumer confidence in the export market itself.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn