Trucks at Tân Thanh-Pò Chài border gate. —VNA/VNS Photo Quang Duy

HÀ NỘI — As of March 1, 1,656 Vietnamese firms had received codes granted by China, enabling them to export farm produce and food products to the Chinese market.

According to the Vietnam Sanitary and Phytosanitary Notification Authority and Enquiry Point (SPS Vietnam) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), as of March 1, 1,656 Vietnamese exporters with 1,776 products had received codes in line with the new regulations on farming region supervision and origin tracking of farm produce under Orders 248 and 249 of China.

Of the total firms, 779 are exporters of aquatic products, 187 are recommended to the Chinese side by the MARD's Plant Protection Department, and 11 are milk producers.

According to SPS Vietnam, the current biggest difficulty is the slow approval process of the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) without any regulations on the duration for approving the issuance of codes for businesses.

MARD has proposed that the Prime Minister allow it to discuss with the Chinese side on measures to deal with technical problems in registering on the GACC portal.

The ministry has also asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vietnamese Embassy in China to work with the Chinese side to remove obstacles during the implementation of the Orders 248 and 249.

China stipulates 18 groups of goods that enterprises must register when exporting to the Chinese market under Order 248. For products outside those groups, exporters have to register via the foreign trade portal of the GACC. — VNS