Vietnam fears protectionism will affect farm produce exports
Vietnam in 2016 saw a high farm produce trade surplus of $7.6 billion, but big difficulties are still ahead, including returning protectionism with Brexit and US President-elect Donald Trump. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said at a press conference on January 5 that protectionism has returned with countries especially trying to protect their farm produce. Fifty percent of farm produce earnings in Vietnam rely on exports. Analysts said that many countries have made heavy investments in agriculture as a measure to ensure food security and enhance competitiveness of their farm produce. China, for example, has decided to invest $450 billion on agricultural restructuring. Thailand has invested $1.5 billion to fix market problems while Myanmar has also accelerated agricultural production restructuring after renovation.
