Vietnam and the United Kingdom have concluded their free trade agreement, which is expected to facilitate more seafood from Vietnam entering the U.K. despite Brexit.
Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh and U.K. Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss agreed to conclude negotiations over the U.K.-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) on 11 December.
The deal will reduce tariffs to zero and remove non-tariff barriers on most goods from both countries under a jointly agreed roadmap.
Currently seafood products exported from Vietnam to the U.K. still benefit from the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), which came into force from the beginning of August and will last until the end of this year.
These tax benefits will not be disrupted from 2021 after the post-Brexit transition ends on 31 December because the UKVFTA is expected to take effect from 1 January next year, with preferential tariffs almost similar to the EVFTA, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said in a statement on 14 December.
VASEP said it expects growth in seafood exports from Vietnam to the U.K. in 2021 and beyond. The U.K.'s COVID-19 outbreak is now coming under control in the country as vaccination has already begun there, VASEP’s General Secretary Truong Dinh Hoe told reporters earlier this week. And VASEP said besides the benefits from the free trade agreement, seafood exports from Vietnam will have more opportunities to meet expected higher demand in the U.K. in the post-pandemic era.
The U.K. is an important buyer of seafood from Vietnam. In the first 11 months of this year, Vietnam exported seafood products worth USD 322.2 million (EUR 265 million) to the kingdom, an increase of 24.1 percent compared to the same period last year, Vietnamese customs data showed.
Despite disruptions in most major markets due to the pandemic, shrimp and pangasius exports from Vietnam to the U.K. have nontheless grown thus far in 2020.
Photo courtesy of U.K. Department for International Trade
