With the aim of increasing sales of metalwork and machine products to Vietnam, the Italian Trade Commission (ITC) recently conducted a series of trade promotion initiatives to help Italian suppliers further tap this market. To get a clear picture of the metalworking and machine tool trade between Vietnam and Italy, reporter Nam Pham interviewed Mr Marco Saladini, Italian Trade Commissioner in Ho Chi Minh City.
Italian machine tool exports to Vietnam have been increasing rapidly, especially in 2010; however, the ratio is still quite low. What are the causes?
While imported Italian machine tools remain few in the Vietnam market, with a market share averaging 4 percent between 2005 and 2009, encouraging outcomes have been seen in sales trends in the past few years. Due to the delayed effects of the global crisis in Vietnam, the year 2010 marked a major decrease (-67 percent) from the previous year. The most popular Italian machine tools in Vietnam in 2010 were lining machines (47 percent), cutting machines (15 percent), bending machines (13 percent) and laser cutting machines (9 percent).
Italian firms need more knowledge about the Vietnamese market. That’s why the Italian Trade Commission (ITC) organized a series of initiatives including visits to trade shows both in Italy and Vietnam, business-to-business meetings and trade show participation in Vietnam. We are still working on providing them with more information, insights, practices and statistical reports about Vietnam.
What do the 11 Italian metalworking and machine tools companies at MTA Vietnam 2011 bring for trade development between Vietnam and Italy?
Attending MTA Vietnam 2011, Italian enterprises will have opportunities to directly introduce products or services, and gain more insight about Vietnamese companies. At the same time, Vietnamese enterprises will better understand the sustainable development value from Italian metalworking and machine tools in this crisis context.
The slogan we chose this year, ‘Our secret: performance and flexibility’ is meant to mark further progress in producers’ attention to local customers needs, especially given the increased level of competition they are now facing, both at home and abroad. Access to Italian machines and tools is a good opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to maximize productivity and output, given the high versatility of the equipment, owing to sustained investments in research and development. Italian machine tools also help increase sustainability for the machine tool engineering industry in Vietnam by creating efficiency, cutting the trade deficit and containing the influx of technology waste.
Could you share more information about the advantages of Italian enterprises in this field? Which factors helped “Made in Italy” products to recently top world production and export classifications, despite the global economic crisis?
Among the 11 Italian companies attending this event will be world class suppliers and manufacturers specialized in mechanical and metallic engineering from bending, pressing to grinding, drilling, cutting, welding, and piping production for cleansing and painting. With various outstanding and innovative advantages to offer, the Italian businesses aim to bring new and comprehensive solutions in mechanical and metallic engineering. What stands out among the good things that the Italian firms want to share are flexibility, efficiency and cost control, which are vital for machine tool manufacturers.
Based on estimates for 2010, Italian output of machine tools, robots and automation increased by 2.5 percent to 4.196 Eur billion. In global economic recovery, the Italian machine tool industry ended 2010 with the country grabbing the fourth rank worldwide in output and the third in exports. Therefore, in the most strategic manufacturing sector, Italian manufacturers have again demonstrated their unique skills to act as a “technology partner” for customers and businesses around the world. Italian businesses are in the forefront of a process to convert machine tool factories into advanced research centres, aiming to reach higher standards by focusing on human intelligence and creativity. The result is the capability to design new products and processes and to manage increasingly complex technologies.
What are competitive advantages to be gained by co-operation between Vietnam and Italy? How do they support Vietnamese domestic industry?
Machine tools are vital to improving industrial competitiveness and adding value to export products, which currently account for more than 70 percent of Vietnam’s GDP. Industries in Vietnam are developing, entailing huge demand for machines, equipment and technology solutions. In an effort to localize industrial products, especially in the machinery engineering sector, the potential partnership between Vietnamese and Italian businesses will enable and strongly promote this process.
How would you assess the trend of investment from Italian metalworking and machine tool companies in Vietnam?
Our statistics show that Vietnam is one of the fastest growing markets in Asia for machine tools in the last few years. Even though sales have decreased in 2010, based on longer term analyses and industry news about recent transactions, the Italian Trade Commission is positive that bilateral trade and investment in this sector will achieve very good results in the next 12-18 months. Thus, MTA 2011 is very much expected to facilitate sustainable cooperation between Italian and Vietnamese businesses in machine tools and engineering.
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