Export Market Guide - Vietnam
This content is restricted to wine exporters and levy-payers. Some reports are available for purchase to non-levy payers/exporters.
All regulatory information for exporting wine to Vietnam including the regulatory environment, duties and taxes, and permitted additives.
Vietnam has been in transition from a centrally-planned to a market based economy since 1986. A socialist market-oriented economy is now in place. Economic growth has been significant in that time and the poverty level has seen significant decline.
Vietnam has been an ASEAN member since 1995 and in January 2007 formally acceded to the WTO. The government's strong growth oriented economic policies have caused it to struggle to control one of the region's highest inflation rates, which reached 18.7 per cent in 2011. It returned to a more moderate rate of 4.6 per cent in 2014. Vietnam's economy also faces challenges from high borrowing costs following a ratings downgrade of Vietnam's sovereign debt.[1] The global financial crisis hit Vietnam’s export oriented industries hard but it is showing signs of recovery.
Vietnam is a former French colony and consequently loyalty to French wine is high. Vietnam has a small domestic wine industry which dominates the wine market in Vietnam.
Australia and New Zealand signed a Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN (AANZFTA) in February 2009. AANZFTA is the largest FTA Australia has concluded. ASEAN is worth about $89 million in average annual exports of Australian wine. The Australia-New Zealand-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement will see a reduction of import tariffs to 20 per cent by 2022. In the interim the MFN tariff rate of 50 per cent is applied and will remain at this rate until 2022.
Australia and Vietnam are also parties to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific-Partnership (CPTPP), formerly known as the Trans-Pacific-Partnership Agreement (TPP-11), which was signed by all 11 countries on 8 March 2018. Australia ratified the agreement on 31 October 2018 and it entered into force on 30 December 2018 for Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, NZ and Singapore. Vietnam has now also ratified the agreement and it entered into force for Vietnam on 14 January 2019. The CPTPP tariff reduction schedule will see further benefits for wines, however, the reductions will not occur until year 8-9 of the CPTPP agreement, or approximately 2027.
The European Union and Vietnam have recently concluded a free trade agreement which entered into force on 1 August 2020, while Vietnam’s FTA with Chile entered into force in 2014.
Vietnamese Cultural Awareness Training
This virtual tailored workshop will provide you with a strong understanding of the cultural aspects of doing business in Vietnam and equip you with tools to succeed in doing business, building relationships and working with Vietnamese customers. You will also gain insight from members of the wine trade with experience in market who will discuss the main intercultural challenges they have faced, the barriers to effective communication and their top tips to help others succeed by doing business.
Vietnam’s Food Safety Law (55/2010/QH12) entered into force on 1 July 2011. The Food Safety Law implemented rules for food safety, food production and trading, food import and export, advertisement and labelling. Under the Food Safety Law, all imported food is subject to import inspection for food safety unless an exemption applies. The Food Safety Law is supported by Decree 15/2018 which outlines the registration and inspection procedures. The Food Safety Law assigns responsibility for the inspection of imported food to the Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD) and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT). A draft law is currently being proposed which would move responsibility for import inspection for most foods to the General Directorate of Vietnam Customs.
Other relevant laws include Circular 34/2014 on Labelling of Packaged Foods, Food Additives and Processing Aids and Decree 43/2017/ND-CP on Goods Labelling. Regulatory responsibility for labelling of food including alcoholic products lies with the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Wine is also subject to the National Technical Regulation on Alcoholic Beverages which came into force in 2011 as well as Ministry of Health’s Circular 27/2012/TT-BYT.