A series of events on Horticulture and Floriculture Exports - New movements in Asian and European markets hosted by HortEx Vietnam 2020 took place from October 22 - 24, 2019 in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Lat City and Hanoi Capital.

On the occasion of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of PR of China Han Changfu paid an official visit to Vietnam, in the framework of the dicussions between Ministers of the two countries, this morning (October 14) in Hanoi, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development organized the “Vietnam - China tea and coffee production and consumption cooperation forum”.

On 11/10, Central Vietnam Farmers Association, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development jointly organized the Fourth National Farmers Forum with the theme "From CPTPP to EVFTA: Together with farmers to the global market. ”

Strengthening linkages between businesses is the solution to increase added value for Vietnam's agricultural value chain, and to join the global agricultural value chain. That was the general opinion of the delegates at the forum "Vietnam enterprises: Links to participate in the global agricultural value chain", organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, October 8, 2019, in Hanoi.

According to Decision No.501/QD-BNN-BVTV of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development dated February 12, 2019 on the removal of veterinary drugs containing the active ingredient Chlorpyrifos, Ethyl and Fipronil from the list of permitted veterinary drugs to be used in Vietnam, these active ingredients can only be manufactured, imported for a maximum of 01 year, traded, used for a maximum of 02 years from the date this Decision takes effect. Therefore, farmers are still using these two active ingredients for pepper at least until 2021.

Regarding this issue, the European Spices Association (ESA) on September 30, 2019 informed the relevant entities about the deadline to allow the use of two active ingredients, Chlorpyrifos and Chlorpyrifos-methyl, at the current level as of January 31, 2020. After this date, the MRLs for these substances will apply under the new regulations is 0.01ppm. It can be said that this is a very strict regulation to control the quality of pepper exported to the EU since 2020. In the context of saturated markets and deeply falling prices, this is extremely unfavorable for farmers and exporters.

Again, the current European allowable level for active ingredients Chlorpyrifos is 1.0 ppm and Chlorpyrifos-methyl is 0.3 ppm. According to this announcement, the European Quality Commission will reduce the current allowed MRLs residuals to 0.01ppm and this will make it difficult for Vietnamese businesses to export Vietnamese pepper to Europe, starting with the January 2020 harvest. Some other pepper producing countries such as Indonesia (0.1ppm) and Malaysia (0.5ppm) are currently also allowed to use these active ingredients and so will be affected by this regulation.

IPC has informed the government of pepper producing countries to find solutions to this situation in order to minimize the impact on exports in the crop year to 2020. In the immediate future, pepper exporters, collectors should take the initiative in grasping the situation and information and advise farmers to control the use of these two active ingredients on pepper plants, including stopping the use of these two substances 03 months before harvesting. The new regulations on MRLs reduction according to new European regulations would be applied from January 31, 2020.