Ireland’s Minister for State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon T.D.(on the right) tours a local supermarket which sells Ireland's milk products in Hà Nội. — Photo courtesy of Bord Bia

HÀ NÔI — Ireland sees great potential to provide high-quality dairy products to the Vietnamese market, especially as tariffs will be reduced to zero per cent on the first day of next year.

Thanks to the European Union (EU) and Vietnamese Free Trade Agreement (FTA) European dairy tariffs will be removed on January 1, 2023, after which Europe’s market share is expected to rise.

“As the country at the heart of Europe, we see the huge potential in the trade deal in exporting high quality of Ireland agro products to Việt Nam,” said Ireland’s Minister for State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon T.D, affirming that Việt Nam was an important strategic partner of Ireland.

Thank to the EVFTA, Ireland will also enjoy the zero per cent of tariff, which is currently 15 per cent.

“The recognition of Việt Nam as an important trade partner of the EU, along with the European Union's EVFTA taking effect from August 1, 2020, Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, aims to introduce premium dairy products to Vietnamese customers,” said Minister Heydon.

Heydon said Europe is the largest dairy-producing region in the world, producing about 145 million tonnes of dairy products in 2021. Ireland, a traditional dairy farming powerhouse, has about 17,000 farms.

According to the Bord Bia, the Irish government agency that manages the promotion, trade development and marketing of the Irish food, drink and horticulture industry, Ireland has a herd of 1.6 million dairy cows producing 8.8 billion litres of milk, an average of 5,648 litres/head.

Bord Bia said Ireland exported more than 30 million euros of food and beverages to the Vietnamese market in 2021, an increase of 55 per cent compared to 2020. 

The minister said Ireland's dairy products like cheese, milk and powder exports to Việt Nam increased by 159 per cent in value in the first six months of 2022.

Nguyễn Đỗ Anh Tuấn, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Director of the International Cooperation Department said Việt Nam has export strengths in rice, coffee, rubber, pepper, cashew, tea, wood, etc. though also imports many shortage products like meat products, fertilizers and pesticides.

Michael Murphy, CEO of Bord Bia, who visited Việt Nam with the minister, announced Bord Bia’s new three-year strategy outlines a target of 800 million euro in Irish food and drink exports to South East Asia by 2025, led by the Irish dairy and meat sectors.

In its Prioritising Markets - Opportunities for Growth study (2017), Bord Bia identified Việt Nam and the wider South East Asia region as a priority destination for Irish food and drink exports, with high potential for dairy exports in particular.

As part of the trade mission, Minister Heydon will be meeting with representatives from Việt Nam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to discuss market access issues and will also attend Bord Bia trade receptions with customers of Irish dairy, pigmeat and seafood in Hà Nội. 

Ciaran Gallagher, Regional Director, South East Asia, Bord Bia, said: “With the population of South East Asia predicted to expand by a further 100 million people by 2050, there will be a growing import demand, and one that 'Ireland is ideally positioned to meet'."

He added: “Ireland and Việt Nam share an understanding that security of supply is key to allowing both countries to plan ahead for growth and success and, as such, we are committed to developing durable business relationships with our customers here.”

He added that the ambition is to build further on the strong partnerships Ireland has with customers in Việt Nam and that trade missions like this are a valuable means of raising the profile of Ireland as a food producing nation and unlocking commercial opportunities for Irish food and drink companies.

The degegation announced Bord Bia would be hosting an Ireland stand at Food & Hotel Asia (FHA) trade show in Singapore as part of the trade mission. — VNS