Dubai Market with Fierce Price Competition

“Dubai is a market of fierce competition in prices, but the Vietnamese enterprises still have opportunities to enter the market,” said Do Thang Hai, deputy head of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, the Ministry of Trade, at a recent seminar entitled ‘Trade promotion to the Dubai market.’

 

Vietnamese enterprises can capitalise the openness of the market as goods imported to Dubai do not face quotas or special barriers in terms of policies, customs procedures, certificates of origin, and quality of goods.

 

At the same time, Dubai has more favourable conditions, including convenient transportation, complete banking systems, low import tax rates, strong payment capability.

 

However, not all goods can easily enter the market, said Vu Thi Them, head of the Department of African, West and South Asian Market. Vietnamese exporters, for example, can enter the market with their fruits and vegetable, such as lemon and mango, with high quality and cheap prices as advantages. However, they should not export textiles and garments to the market as it has been saturated with goods from China and India.

 

The promoted export of goods from Asian countries has made the market’s competition fiercer. Also, without direct maritime and air routes between Vietnam and Dubai, transportation charges are often high and delivery time is often longer, resulting in less competitiveness of Vietnamese goods. In addition, high costs for joining trade fairs and exhibitions have constrained opportunities for Vietnamese to promote their products in Dubai, Them went on.

 

Nevertheless, Vietnamese enterprises can capitalise other markets which remain abandoned as Thai Tuan Textile Company has done. So far, the trademark and products of Thai Tuan have become familiar in Dubai and most products of Thai Tuan have been exported to other Arabian countries from the market.

 

The Dubai market remains open for Vietnamese enterprises. How to get access to the market will depend on dynamism of enterprises.

 

Trade relations between Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates (mainly Dubai, capital city of UEA) have witnessed significant achievements in recent years. Two-way trade turnover in 2005 reached US$200 million. Of the figure, Vietnam earned US$120 million from export, up by 33 per cent against 2004. In nine months of 2006, Vietnam’s export to the market reached US$94.6 million.