VietNam Business: Vietnamese products

Showing posts with label Vietnamese products. Show all posts

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Japanese retailer puts Vietnamese products on shelves

Japanese retailer puts Vietnamese products on shelves Japanese retailer Aeon Corporation has begun carrying Vietnamese products in its stores in Japan to take advantage of lower import duties under a free trade agreement signed between the two nations.

Aeon, Japan’s second largest retailer, was looking for Vietnamese suppliers in clothing, food and household products, said Toshihito Hirai, deputy general director of AIC’s Foods Supervision Division. AIC is in charge of purchasing products for Aeon.

Hirai said Vietnam has become a potential supplier of the group as it targets reduced costs and improved competitiveness.

He said the Japanese government had eliminated or reduced tariffs for almost Vietnamese agricultural products after the Economic Partnership Agreement between two countries took effect late in 2008.

The tariffs would reduce to zero from the current 1 to 5 percent for these products, especially seafood, and trading in Vietnamese products would fetch more benefits for the group, said Hirai.

He said shipping charges from Vietnam to Japan were reasonable and affordable and added to the company’s ability to improve its competitiveness in the retail market.

China, Thailand and Vietnam were the group’s top suppliers in Asia, he said. However, Chinese suppliers were focusing on the domestic market and the group had to look for other suppliers.

Vietnam was strong in export of agricultural and farm products like rice, vegetables, coffee, cashew, cassava, tea and oranges, he said.

He told Thanh Nien Weekly that quality was the group’s top concern in trading with Vietnamese suppliers, but many of them were trying to apply international standards in producing and packaging now.

The group would send a team to investigate Vietnamese factories processing seafood and other products in November as part of preparations for its first direct shipment from Vietnam, he said.

Aeon CEO Nagahashi Oyama had said during a visit to Vietnam last year that the retailer was looking for locations to develop a US$50 million trade, service and entertainment complex on 10 hectares in Ho Chi Minh City.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Vietnam exports to Cambodia forecast at US$1.6 billion

Vietnamese-made products displayed at an exhibition in Cambodia in 2006 - Photo: Le Quang Nhat

HCMC – Vietnamese enterprises expect to export US$1.6 billion worth of goods to Cambodia this year, up from the US$1.1 billion recorded last year, said an official of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Chu Thang Trung, deputy director general of the ministry’s Department of Trade Policy for Asia-Pacific Markets, told the Daily on Tuesday that Cambodia had recently become one of the most potential Southeast Asian markets for Vietnam.

In the first six months of the year, he said, Vietnam’s shipments to the neighboring market amounted to US$728 million, a year-on-year increase of 34%.

Trung said the Vietnamese products for which the demand was running high in Cambodia included steel, machines, garment and textile materials, plastics, fertilizers, consumer goods and foodstuff.

To further promote local goods in Cambodia, Trung said, the HCMC Investment and Trade Promotion Center, or ITPC, will continue organizing two major exhibitions to introduce high-quality Vietnamese products to Cambodian consumers in late November with some 200 enterprises taking part.

Cambodia’s demand for Vietnamese products has rapidly increased in recent years. Two-way trade between the two countries has surged 30% a year on average since 2001.

Trung noted Cambodia was not only an increasingly important market for Vietnam but a key destination for investment as well.

Vietnamese enterprises have pledged around US$900 million in 63 projects in Cambodia and these projects have generated jobs for 30,000 local people. Vietnam is the third largest investor in Cambodia in terms of investor numbers after China and Korea.

The industries where Vietnamese enterprises are committed to Cambodia include finance, energy, telecommunications, agriculture and mineral mining.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Exporters rush to opportunities in Myanmar

Economists said there was a golden chance for Vietnamese businesses to export their products to Myanmar as its Government was making numerous offers to foreign traders and investors.

Just 20 percent of domestic demand in the 58 million-strong market has been met by domestic production, leaving significant room for imports.

The Myanmar Government has recently promulgated numerous policies to encourage foreign trade and investment, including mandates for establishing wholly foreign-invested companies and streamlining application procedures for business visas.

In two consecutive months, July and August, Vietnam sent two business missions to Myanmar for market surveys. Another mission with the participation of 30 companies is expected to leave for the potential market in October. The coming mission aims to study the feasibility of building a showroom and shopping centre for Vietnamese products in Yangon .

Many Vietnamese business giants have already shaken hands with Myanmar partners. The Ton Hoa Sen Group has signed a memorandum of understanding on investment in producing corrugated iron, steel and construction materials worth US$300 million with the Myanmar Ministry of Industry 2.

A similar investment has been planned by the Hoang Anh-Gia Lai Group for a project to build a Vietnam-Myanmar trade and cultural complex in Yangon.

The Vinashin Vung Tau has planned to invest in a lobster farming project in Myanmar after success in raising cold water fish such as salmon and sturgeon.

Back from a market survey trip in August, Ngoc Linh from the Ho Chi Minh City Trade and Investment Promotion Centre guaranteed the Myanmar market is opening its door wide for Vietnamese enterprises, especially consumer goods, food processors and drug makers.

Statistics released by the Myanmar Customs Office showed that two-way trade revenues increased 86.7 percent year on year to $56 million in the first half of the year. Vietnam ’s exports rose by 53.5 percent to $16 million.

Vietnam is the 14 th largest exporter to Myanmar . Its hard currency earners ranged from materials for the garment industry to assorted steels, medicines, medical equipment, vehicle tyres and inner tubes, and building materials.

Vietnamese products such as electric lamps, medicines and aluminium products have taken a firm foothold in the Myanmar market. Dien Quang brand, for example, has become the second-best seller in electric lamps, earning some $1.5 million in monthly export revenues.

Products from the Hau Giang Pharmaceutical Company have become popular in this market over the past three eyars.

Vietnam’s imports included timber, rubber latex, farm produce, raw seafood and copper.

A major problem facing Vietnamese businesses is fierce competition with low-priced made-in-china products, with prices between 20 and 25 percent lower than those from Vietnam.

Linh has advised businesses to facilitate trademark promotion campaigns along with expanding distribution networks in an effort to make made-in-Vietnam products familiar to customers in Myanmar .

Ambassador Chu Cong Phung gave another piece of advice - that Vietnamese businesses should set up strong ties with Myanmar partners to help clear the way for Vietnamese exports into Myanmar.

Exporters rush to opportunities in Myanmar