AST Enterprises Inc., provides intermediary services for agriculture and animal feed producers, connecting exporters with markets in countries of Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In fact, Vietnam is a large market introducing famous brands to world markets. AST Enterprises takes the role of building the reputation of Vietnam’s brands on the global marketplace. Vietnam Business Forum interviewed Mr Mukul Maheshwari, General Manager of AST Enterprises in Vietnam, to learn about this service. Doan Tien reports.
Can you please tell us about AST Enterprises and its activities in Vietnam?
AST was established in 1995 with offices in Dubai, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, Mozambique, India and Vietnam. The representative office in Vietnam was established in January 2010.
The group’s main activities are trading in Agro commodities like Sesame seeds, Ginger, Lentils, Raw Cashew Nut (RCN) and animal feed like Wheat Bran, Yellow Corn and Indian Soya bean meal.
Activities in Vietnam:
Vietnam imports around 300,000mt of RCN, also Vietnam is the biggest exporter of cashew kernels and attracts the presence of Global Traders of RCN. We are one of the prominent importers of RCN from Africa (Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Ghana).
Vietnam imports large quantities of animal feed from India and also we import to Vietnam Indian Soya Bean Meal / Yellow corn and Wheat Bran from Africa.
Vietnam is a large exporter of Coffee and Pepper and for packaging it requires jute bags. We represent one of the biggest Jute Bag factories in India and facilitate the import of Jute Bags.
We export products from one of the finest confectionary companies of Vietnam, Kinh Do, to Africa and today Kinh Do has become a household brand in Nigeria.
Our other agro commodities exports from here are Pepper, Cassia, and Desiccated Coconut.
What are your comments about the Vietnam market in regard to AST’s trade and retail activities so far?
We felt that Vietnam is poised to be a leader in ASEAN with plenty of opportunities.
Vietnam is an emerging market with potential, political stability, and friendly investment policy.
We have been here for last 2 years, and are among the top 20 cashew nut processors and are seen as reliable suppliers of raw materials.
Competition is growing every day and we need to be on our toes to provide better quality and services.
Domestic cashew consumption is improving slowly and in the coming time Vietnam will be a leading processor too.
The government has decreased the import tax on raw nuts, encouraging factories here to import raw material and also utilize economies of scale by processing quantities as per facilities available.
AST will be part of the growth and economic cooperation between our two countries.
Would you explain more about your most popular services and products in the Vietnam market so far?
The Vietnam brand is becoming stronger in world cashew markets like the US and Europe. To build on this Vietnam needs to process RCN grown locally as well as import it, giving us a chance to cater to markets where we are preferred suppliers.
Once raw material enters Vietnam, our staff helps transport goods from ports to factories, and checks the quality and quantity along with local partners, raising confidence in the factories.
Animal feed is a growing market in Vietnam and lot of raw material requirements must be fulfilled.
Vietnam is leading in Cashew/Rice/Coffee/Pepper exporter so Vietnam is a focus for many companies in the agro business.
Thus, AST has confirmed its important role in trading agricultural products between Vietnam and India. Can you talk about the strategy of AST Enterprises for the coming time, on the occasion of the two countries celebrating 40 years of cooperation?
This year business between the two countries will be around US$3.5 billion and by 2015 it is expected to cross US$7 billion.
We have entered this market with the aim to grow along with the country’s tremendous growth potential.
In the time to come we would like to improve our product range.
On this special occasion we wish all Indian enterprises operating in Vietnam, as well as enterprises planning to enter Vietnam, successful business cooperation with their Vietnam business partners.
Vietnamese
