Empowering Vietnamese Goods

According to the organisers, South Korea is the most active country in the past trade fairs. South Korean companies registered much more booths than any other countries and territories. We can envisage trade promotion activities between the two countries by seeing at nearly 100 booths they registered. Especially, Vietnam and South Korea will celebrate the 20^th anniversary of diplomatic relations. This year, Belarus participated with 50 booths, both indoors and outdoors, focusing on high-tech industries such as petrochemical, engineering, machinery for industry and agriculture, heavy specialised vehicles, education and training. India made presence in the past two days, with nearly 40 stalls this year. Indian companies display hi-tech products, the strength of this nation.

 

Needless to say, the United States and Japan remain the two potential strategic export markets for Vietnamese enterprises at present and in the future. The US market is always a giant consumer of various goods. per capita GDP reached US$47,400 in 2010. Besides, Americans are very famous for shopping habits and developed financial services. Vietnamese exports also have more opportunity to enter the US market because consumers are more easy-going than European countries or Japan. A big population of Vietnamese people living and working in the US is another reason for the market share increase of Vietnamese goods. According to incomplete statistics, there are some 1.5 million Vietnamese people in the US, accounting for about 10.5 percent of total Asian Americans. This is also the fourth largest community there after China, India and the Philippines.

 

However, it is highly recommended that the US consumption market has some major changes. Americans are quite practical in shopping needs. For example, consumers prefer disassembled wooden furniture to fixed ones because they want to fit together alone with the guidebook. This means Vietnamese produces have to pack products and print guidebooks. Vietnamese garments and textiles - the key export - are fiercely competing with Chinese products. According to FTA negotiation contents between Vietnam and the United States, American importers will tighten supervision over origins and refinement of cotton - the main ingredient for apparel and textile production. Vietnam is now importing most coal from China and the new ruling is posing challenges for the development of Vietnamese garment and textile industry.

 

Japan is a primary importer of Vietnamese goods. The Southeast Asian nation mainly exports apparels, electric cables and wires, timber and wooden products, PCs, electronic devices and parts, and seafood. In 2011, Vietnam exported US$123 million of exports to Japan while the latter spent US$10.2 billion. According to statistics and analyses, this is a very potential market for Vietnamese companies to tap. Vietnam can export agricultural products and footwear to Japan. Remarkably, Japanese consumers are interested in furniture made from natural wood but many have shifted to use furniture made from industrial timbers as they are cheaper. This is a new consumer trend in Japan that Vietnamese furniture exporters need to focus. However, to penetrate into the Japanese market, Vietnamese businesses also confront numerous difficulties like high trade promotion costs and high market survey expenditure (market survey fees, trade fair fees, hotels, travel, meal, etc.). Last but not least, Japan has many technical barriers for food because Japanese authorities are very strict.