HANOI: Experts urged Vietnam to shift from high-yield to high-quality rice varieties to compete with other rice exporters in the region like Thailand. The European Union (EU) will offer Vietnamese rice exports duty-free tariff rate quotas when the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) comes into effect.
Therefore, the rice industry has been urged to change production practices to fully take advantage of these quotas. According to the Guide to EVFTA issued by Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam, the EU will allow the import of 80,000 tonnes of Vietnamese rice – 30,000 tonnes of milled rice, 20,000 tonnes of husked rice and 30,000 tonnes of fragrant rice – every year at zero per cent duty.
The EU will also offer a 50 per cent duty cut at entry and then linear reduction over five years for broken rice. Insiders said the preferential tax rate would help Vietnamese enterprises to save 17 million euros (US$20 million) in taxes each year.
