According to the General Department of Customs, the total import-export turnover for the whole year is estimated at 668.5 billion USD, up 22.6%, equivalent to 123 billion USD compared to 2020. This can be considered as a bright part of a remarkable dark picture. .

Commodity structure, market and value compared to export output also had positive changes. The export market is more diversified, especially the growth in new and fastidious markets such as the EU and the US. Enterprises have found alternative markets to boost exports to offset the decrease in turnover in traditional markets. 

A series of our exports continue to be among the top in the world, such as cashew and pepper being the world's leading exporter, accounting for about 60% of global pepper exports; rice, coffee, shoes ranked second; The world's third largest seafood exporter, in which pangasius ranks first, while shrimp ranks fifth. In particular, in 2021, Vietnam's textile and garment market share will rise to second in the world with total export turnover of the whole world. industry is estimated at 39 billion USD, up 11.2% compared to 2020; Exports to some major markets increased, especially the US market.

However, there are still dark areas in the picture of import and export. Exported agricultural and aquatic products still face many difficulties in accessing markets with high requirements for quality and food safety. Intrinsic limitations and weaknesses in small and scattered production, although much have been overcome, have not yet met the requirements of large-scale and high-standard commodity production from the international market. that does not fully meet the needs of the market.

Meanwhile, China is still one of the largest import markets for Vietnamese agricultural and aquatic products. However, for many years, agricultural products such as rice, watermelon, sweet potato, fruit... have been stuck at the end of the year, near Tet or right when your country "changes state" through customs clearance. This situation recurs as a chorus due to the broken connection of agriculture with the processing and consumption industries to the supply chains of export goods, and weak basic logistics services that have been revealed for many years.

Looking at the opposite direction, there is also a congestion of goods at the border gate, showing that imports are having problems because they are mainly trading in small-scale, seasonal and raw agricultural products. Therefore, the situation that thousands of trucks of goods are stuck every day at the northern border gates for many weeks, which has not been cleared up for many weeks, is a symptom of the inadequacy of production and consumption of goods.

To treat "choking" at border gates, it is necessary to take immediate doses of medicine, short-term measures, but more importantly, a system of mechanisms, policies, and radical and long-term solutions. Accordingly, not only with the requirements of managing the loading and unloading activities, customs clearance, and border gate control of the industry, trade and customs authorities, it is also necessary to have inter-sectoral coordination, from production, processing, to transportation. loading, supply chain, goods circulation to managementimport and export.

From an economic and market perspective, it is necessary to soon form groups strong enough to support and proactively respond. It requires a fundamental transformation from agricultural production to an agricultural economy and an integrated economy of industry and commerce, but it must be a qualitative transformation. Enterprises cannot be advised to "regulate" the supply of goods to reasonable border gates to avoid stagnation, while they lack supporting tools and multi-functional integrated logistics services that can meet requirements for processing, preservation and cold storage of agricultural products.