On the morning of December 15, the Department of Industry and Trade of Dak Lak organized a program to welcome foreign business delegations to Vietnam to buy goods in the Central Highlands region.
Speaking at the opening of the conference, Mr. Nguyen Hai Trieu, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Dak Lak emphasized that the climate and soil conditions of the Central Highlands are very suitable for industrial crops such as coffee, rubber, cocoa, pepper, mulberries, durian. In which, coffee is identified as the main industry of the region.
However, Mr. Trieu also admitted that despite its great potential, the export turnover of the Central Highlands is still modest. In 2023 - 2024, after the post-COVID-19 recovery period, the total export turnover of the whole region will reach about 4.6 billion USD, accounting for less than 1% of the total export turnover of the country.
In 2023 alone, the export turnover of the region will reach nearly 3.6 billion USD; in 2024, it is estimated to reach about 7 billion USD, equivalent to more than 1% of the country's export turnover. Export activities are still mainly agricultural products, in which Dak Lak leads the region with a turnover of nearly 1.7 billion USD, thanks to the strong increase in the value of many commodities, especially coffee.
According to Mr. Trieu, the scale of agricultural product production and processing is still small, lacking deep processing centers, causing export products to be mainly raw and have low added value. The quality of agricultural products is not uniform, easily facing technical and commercial barriers.
The connection between stages in the value chain lacks sustainability. In particular, production and export activities are heavily dependent on natural conditions and fluctuations in the world market, such as coffee dependent on the European market, rubber dependent on the Chinese market, which pose many potential risks when the market fluctuates.
"To achieve long-term development goals, in the context of many new domestic and international challenges, the Central Highlands needs to have a new mindset, new vision and new development mindset. Thereby, creating breakthrough changes, better promoting the position and role of a particularly important nature, effectively exploiting the potential and advantages of the region. At the same time, continue to promote the achieved results, overcome limitations and weaknesses, overcome new difficulties and challenges," Mr. Trieu emphasized.
It is expected that the program will attract more than 20 foreign import-export, distribution and purchasing enterprises from China, Singapore, Australia, Korea, etc., along with more than 80 suppliers from the Central Highlands region to participate.
