With programmes to assist its member enterprises to enlarge their operational capacities and build up relations with partners and competent authorities, the Food and Foodstuff Association (FFA)–Ho Chi Minh City has gradually improved its representation for the food production and processing business community in order to help modernise and industrialise the food sector, secure food needs for people and boost the exportation of food and foodstuff to other countries.
Programmes to improve operational capacities
In 2004 - 2005, the FFA–Ho Chi Minh City has cooperated with the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC) to organise a drill course on “Tactics to attend international trade fairs” in a bid to provide more basic and essential skills to have a satisfactory results at a trade fair. The association also organised courses on “Setting up product prices and pricing strategies for small and medium enterprises,” “Skills to organise professional goods sales,”, and “Risk management, arts to minimize sales on credit and debt recoveries”. The association also cooperated with professional organisations to set up a selection committee to sort out products for “quality and safe food” titles. Consequently, enterprises pay more attention to producing safer products, building up reputations for their products and achieving business targets.
For example, the first food and drink trade fair in 2004 created a fair competitive atmosphere for enterprises both inside and outside the association to advertise their products and trademarks, boost trade promotions for its traditional and new products. The fair in 2004 drew the participation of over 171 enterprises from Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces to display on nearly 300 booths. Nearly 100,000 people visited the fair.
Programmes to develop key products
Until now, the association has assisted its member enterprises including Vina Acecook, Kinh Do, Duyen Hai and Tribeco to send their products to the city’s key product list. Besides, the association website www.ffa.com.vn is also another information channel for enterprises to approach online sales business and carry out the programme “Assisting enterprises to design, register and protect over 1,000 product labels.” In addition, the association has also built a monitor system in order to work out risks in food and beverage production, cooperates with the Quality Measurement and Standardisation Centre 3 to organise conferences on “Codex regulations - for exportation of food items to the EU market, FDI standards - for exportation of food items to the US market, and experience in implementation of HACCP and difficulties in exporting food products to the US market, and organised the “qualitative and safe food” selection programme. These activities have actually created opportunities for enterprises to build up reputations for their products and created conditions for enterprises to expand businesses, widen market shares and protect trademarks by their product quality. is also another information channel for enterprises to approach online sales business and carry out the programme “Assisting enterprises to design, register and protect over 1,000 product labels.” In addition, the association has also built a monitor system in order to work out risks in food and beverage production, cooperates with the Quality Measurement and Standardisation Centre 3 to organise conferences on “Codex regulations - for exportation of food items to the EU market, FDI standards - for exportation of food items to the US market, and experience in implementation of HACCP and difficulties in exporting food products to the US market, and organised the “qualitative and safe food” selection programme. These activities have actually created opportunities for enterprises to build up reputations for their products and created conditions for enterprises to expand businesses, widen market shares and protect trademarks by their product quality.
Assisting and protecting membership rights and interests
From the motto of “Uniting and gathering enterprises of all economic sectors into the association in order to help and protect legitimate rights and interests of its members, stabilising and developing enterprises, improving product quality and business efficiency in order to promote the roles, positions and voices of the sector before the public and authority,” the association has launched various action programmes such as the “entrepreneur and law programme”, introducing State policies and guidelines to individual membership enterprises, timely responding to difficulties and referring urgent matters to competent organisations. Through entrepreneur meetings, the association has also helped entrepreneurs to share and exchange experiences, create an atmosphere that facilitates exchange and unity for enterprises to boost cooperation to exert their internal forces for a stable integration into the world economy. At a recent meeting with the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, the association joined hands with the committee’s trade promotion division and site relocating division to generate more favourable conditions for its membership enterprises to move to new locations. The association also proposed that the city government set up food industrial complexes.
The association has completed the procedures for registering a common goods label at the National Office of Intellectual Property. This is an impetus for its member enterprises to heighten competitiveness. At the same time, the association also promotes its internal forces when Vietnam integrates into the world economy, gradually bringing the common label to consumers, especially in Southeast Asian markets and worldwide. In the coming time, the association will continue expanding and improving its four programmes to assist its member enterprises and upgrading information in order to introduce measures to be successful in the international economic integration process.
Xuan Hoe
Vietnamese
