Vietnam-China Agricultural Cooperation in a New Era: From Strategic Vision to a Sustainable and Prosperous Supply Chain
- Written by Media Outreach
This constitutes a diplomatic event of paramount significance, aimed at concretizing high-level common understandings and further enriching the substance of the Vietnam-China Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership. Within this framework, agricultural cooperation is identified as a crucial pillar, contributing to sustainable development and delivering tangible benefits to the peoples of both nations.
Strategic Imprint and a Visionary Roadmap for Agricultural Collaboration
The State Visit unfolds against the backdrop of the finest phase of development in relations between the two Parties and two countries. It leaves a profound strategic imprint and bolsters high-level political trust, an essential prerequisite for substantive cooperation across all sectors.
Within the guiding framework of building a "China-Vietnam Community with a Shared Future of Strategic Significance," agricultural collaboration is prioritized as a linchpin, playing a pivotal role in the deep economic integration of the two economies and the safeguarding of national food security.
This vision not only strives for balanced trade and sustainable regional development but also embodies the spirit of being "both comrades and brothers." It serves as a solid foundation for translating practical commitments into reality and generating robust momentum for the agricultural value chain in this new era of development.
Agriculture: A Dynamic Pillar of Bilateral Trade
The strategic vision and shared perceptions of the two countries' top leaders generate powerful momentum for promoting trade in agricultural, forestry, and fishery products, thereby highlighting the complementarity and comparative advantages of the two economies. Leveraging its abundant tropical agricultural resources, Vietnam is increasingly effective in meeting the diverse and high-quality demands of the Chinese market. Currently, China remains Vietnam's largest export market for agro-forestry-fishery products and a leading import partner. Reciprocally, Vietnam maintains its position as China's largest trading partner within ASEAN. These outcomes clearly demonstrate the efficacy of trade promotion policies and the concerted efforts of both sides to facilitate customs clearance and market connectivity.
Impressive growth is substantiated by concrete figures: in 2024, bilateral trade in agricultural, forestry, and aquatic products reached US$17.8 billion (a 14.6% increase year-on-year); in 2025, total trade surged to US$20.94 billion (a 17.6% increase), with Vietnam's exports to China reaching US$15.97 billion, a remarkable 41.1% jump compared to 2024.
These figures not only affirm the growing importance of Vietnamese agricultural products in the Chinese market but also indicate substantial potential to be harnessed through future cooperation. This provides a solid empirical foundation for both sides to continue fostering in-depth collaboration, striving to build a transparent, safe, and sustainable agricultural supply chain that better addresses the needs and expectations of consumers in both countries.
Realizing Commitments and Expanding Market Access
In implementing the common understandings reached by the high-ranking leaders of the two Parties and States, Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and relevant Chinese agencies have coordinated closely to refine the legal framework, dismantle technical barriers, and broaden market access.
To date, the two sides have signed 33 Agreements and Protocols, establishing an increasingly synchronized and favorable legal corridor for the trade of agricultural, forestry, and aquatic products.
Consequently, efforts to expand the portfolio of exportable agricultural commodities have yielded significant positive results. Vietnam has standardized technical procedures for 15 fruit and vegetable export items, nine of which are key staples managed under Protocols. Notably, an additional five new Protocols were concluded in 2025 alone.
In the fisheries sector, China has licensed hundreds of Vietnamese establishments to participate in exports, contributing to an expansion in both scale and product diversity.
Currently, both sides are actively advancing negotiations to open markets for numerous promising products. Concurrently, trade and investment promotion activities during the visit are expected to play a vital role in transforming high-level commitments into concrete outcomes, steering agricultural trade toward stable, sustainable, and efficient development.
Standardizing Production Processes to Align with International Benchmarks
To meet the increasingly stringent quarantine and food safety requirements of the Chinese market and other international destinations, Vietnam's agricultural sector is accelerating production restructuring in tandem with quality standardization. This represents a strategic pivot, shifting the development paradigm from a focus on "quantity" to one prioritizing "quality and value."
Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is concentrating efforts on establishing and strictly managing a system of planting area codes and packaging facility codes to ensure transparent traceability. Simultaneously, full compliance with food safety regulations, particularly Orders 248 and 249 of the General Administration of Customs of China, has become a mandatory requirement for exporting enterprises.
These endeavors not only help sustain and expand access to the Chinese market but also lay the groundwork for Vietnamese agricultural products to integrate more deeply into global value chains.
Strengthening Investment and Forging a Modern Agricultural Supply Chain in Vietnam
Attracting investment, particularly Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), is emerging as a key priority in Vietnam-China agricultural cooperation. Vietnam is steadily enhancing its transparent and open investment climate, offering a host of competitive advantages: (i) Locational and Raw Material Advantages: Abundant and stable agricultural inputs, coupled with an increasingly efficient logistics system, exemplified by the "smart border gate" model, optimize transit times and costs; (ii) Attractive Incentive Policies: Projects in high-tech agriculture, deep processing, and green agriculture benefit from preferential corporate income tax rates and favorable land policies; (iii) Gateway to Global Markets: With a network of over 16 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), Vietnam stands as a strategic investment destination, enabling Chinese enterprises to capitalize on opportunities to expand exports to major markets under preferential terms. Notably, investment cooperation in cold chain logistics infrastructure and post-harvest preservation technology is anticipated to be a critical factor in reducing losses, enhancing value addition, and bolstering the competitiveness of agricultural products from both nations.
The State Visit of Vietnam's General Secretary and President To Lam to China is set to generate significant political momentum, propelling bilateral cooperation into a new phase of development. With strategic consensus from the highest levels of leadership and the active engagement of regulatory agencies and the business community, a modern and sustainable Vietnam-China agricultural supply chain is gradually taking shape, promising to elevate value addition, spur economic growth, and contribute to the overall stability and prosperity of the region.
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