A large, demanding market with plenty of room for Vietnamese agricultural products
With a population of 450.4 million people (2025), a GDP of 19.4 trillion USD (2024), accounting for nearly 18% of the world and spending on food and beverages of up to 1,100 billion Euros/year, EU is considered one of the largest and most demanding agricultural, forestry and fishery markets in the world. In 2024, the bloc's agricultural, forestry and fishery imports reached 348 billion USD and are forecast to increase to 363.9 billion USD in 2025. Main import groups include vegetables, seafood, coffee, cashew nuts, wood, pepper, etc., with a value accounting for 30 - 60% of total global imports.
Vietnam is currently one of the important supply partners, with agricultural export turnover to EU market increasing steadily over the years, from 3.76 billion USD (2019) to 5.44 billion USD (2024).
In the first 7 months of 2025 alone, the figure reached 4.73 billion USD, an increase of 49% over the same period. Main products include coffee, seafood, wood, cashew nuts, vegetables with the largest import market being Germany, followed by the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Italy. Currently, Vietnam's export turnover only accounts for about 2% of total import value of agricultural products in the EU, showing that there is still a lot of room for growth.
However, Vietnamese agricultural products still face many difficulties when entering this potential market. Mr. Tran Van Cong, Vietnam's Agricultural Counselor to EU, informed that EU has not yet opened its doors to Vietnam's terrestrial animal products; the "IUU yellow card" for exploited aquatic products has not been removed; tax policies and increased competition as other countries are shifting their supply sources to EU market due to tariff incentives; long geographical distances and high logistics costs reduce competitiveness of Vietnamese goods in this market. In addition, Vietnam still mainly exports raw or semi-processed products and processed products with high added value from Vietnam to the EU are still modest. Meanwhile, outstanding characteristics of this market are strict requirements on quality, food safety, sustainable development and social responsibility. For products of plant origin, EU does not require mandatory growing area codes or packaging codes like some other markets, but mainly applies post-inspection methods. However, some products such as dragon fruit, chili, and okra are still subject to stricter controls due to warnings about pesticide residues.
For seafood products, EU has opened its doors completely but requires very high requirements on traceability, food safety certification and legal exploitation. EU is also preparing to implement Deforestation Prevention Regulation (EUDR), effective from December 31, 2025. Vietnam is one of the few countries classified in the low-risk group, but businesses still need to proactively prepare to meet this regulation.
Businesses restructure towards sustainability to conquer the EU
After 5 years of implementing the EVFTA, EU has eliminated import taxes on nearly 100% of tax lines, creating great advantages for Vietnam's agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Compared to competitors from South America, Asia or Africa who are subject to MFN (preferential import tax) or GSP (Generalized System of Preferences) tax of 4% or more, Vietnamese goods have a clear competitive advantage in this market.
EU is a demanding but potential market. If we make good use of trade agreements such as EVFTA, combined with improving quality and production capacity, Vietnam's agricultural exports to the EU can make strong progress in the coming time.
Mr. Tran Van Cong analyzed that with fruit and vegetable industry, Vietnam's processed products only account for about 20% of export structure to EU, while import tax on processed goods is currently at 0% along with great advantage of tropical and seasonal fruits and vegetables. Processed coffee, especially instant coffee, accounts for 18% of the EU's import market share. In addition, while Vietnamese roasted coffee enjoys a 0% tax rate, many competitors have to pay a tax rate of 7.5% - 11.5%, creating a clear competitive advantage.
Regarding seafood products, there are currently about 600 Vietnamese enterprises granted export codes to EU. Notable are value-added product lines such as ecological shrimp, ASC-certified shrimp and high-end black tiger shrimp. EU has a strong demand for legal, certified wood. Compliance with EUDR, FLEGT and the trend of investing in certified plantation forests opens up great opportunities for flooring products, with demand forecast to reach 55.8 billion USD next year;…
To increase market share in EU market, Mr. Tran Van Cong recommended that businesses, associations, ministries and sectors continue to promote export of advantageous product groups such as processed fruits and vegetables, processed coffee, black tiger shrimp, internationally certified organic shrimp, flooring wood and natural rubber.
At the same time, it is recommended that Ministry of Agriculture and Environment promptly complete dossier to submit to EU for assessment of opening market for terrestrial animal products; update EUDR regulations and guide businesses and localities to prepare; speed up progress of working with EC to soon remove IUU yellow card; build safe farming areas, improve product quality, develop brands and promote agricultural trade promotion in the EU.
Regarding EU market, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Thanh Nam said that the Ministry will continue to focus on handling issue of applying IUU yellow card to Vietnamese seafood; strengthen inspection measures, handle and remove some items on list of increased inspection frequency of the EU (dragon fruit, okra, chili, durian). At the same time, develop raw material areas that meet export standards to EU and strengthen and expand organic production to meet export standards to the EU market.
From business perspective, to adapt, many businesses have proactively restructured towards sustainability. EU is Vietnam's largest coffee export market. In the first 6 months of this year, Dak Lak 2-9 Import-Export Company Limited (Simexco Dak Lak) recorded a record revenue of 550 million USD, despite no increase in output, thanks to focusing on deeply processed coffee and developing products with sustainable certification. Mr. Le Duc Huy, Chairman of Board of Directors of Simexco Dak Lak, said that enterprise has built a digital map, traced origin to each farmer and focused on improving the quality of Robusta coffee to meet new tastes of EU market. In long term, Vietnam Coffee Corporation aims to build specialized raw material areas, apply technology, develop logistics services and participate more deeply in global value chain. Mr. Dang Hong Tuan, Vietnam Coffee Corporation, said that the company aims to become a green, sustainable agricultural corporation with international competitiveness and a leader in application of science, technology and innovation by 2035.
By promoting sustainable certification, building national brands, developing deeply processed products and enhancing trade promotion, Vietnamese agricultural products will not only maintain their position as leading suppliers but also increase their value and position in one of the most demanding but potential markets in the world.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn