Foreign businesses hunt for Vietnamese suppliers

Many Vietnamese products have so far exported worldwide and foreign importers are hunting for local suppliers to enable them to sell the products directly in global markets.

Many foreign customers prefer Vietnamese home interior products.

Home Center Kohnan of Japanese firm Kohnan, which has 300 household appliance shops in the East Asian country, is seeking Vietnamese suppliers. It wants to do business with prestigious producers of home interior, items of smart houses and digital equipment systems.

A representative from the company, Hatakeyama Motonobu, said Kohnan is looking for suppliers who can provide it high-quality products besides meeting requirements of sustainable production.

The owner of Japanese Nosui Corporation has also travelled to Vietnam 30 times to seek suppliers of safe agricultural products. The company has partnered with Hien Le Trading and Service Co., Ltd in Hanoi for a year, supporting the Vietnamese firm with advanced farming techniques.

According to Nguyen Thi Bao Hien, director of Hien Le Trading and Service Co., Ltd, her company doesn’t have to worry much about finding consumption markets as it has clean products which satisfy the stringent criteria of the importers. After three years pouring capital into clean agriculture, its investment has borne fruit, with several contracts inked agreements to export tropical farm produce to choosy markets like Japan and the UK.

The firm is rushing to harvest 20 hectares of soybean for processing before export to Japan, with its main importer being Nosui Corporation.

It is understandable why the Japanese firms are interested in the Vietnamese products. Vietnamese wood and agriculture production sector is valued at billions of dollars, of which wooden export revenue reached US$9.3 billion in 2018 and the export value of farm products was estimated at more than US$20 billion.

Besides home appliances and agricultural products, foreign firms are also hunting for Vietnamese support product suppliers. The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade has been also working with relevant agencies to assist over 300 South Korean businesses who are seeking Vietnamese suppliers.

Nguyen Phuong Dong, deputy director of the department, said it is the first time many Korean hi-end product manufacturers come to find Vietnamese suppliers.

Advanced technology a must

According to experts, Vietnamese enterprises’ ability to take part in the global value chain will depend on the quality of their products and a willingness to use advanced technology.

Vo Tan Thanh, vice chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said that local companies must take the initiative in innovation and technology application to meet international standards from buyers.

For markets such as the US, the EU, Japan and South Korea, in addition to general global standards, exporters should be prepared to meet technical trade barriers that could change unexpectedly, Thanh noted.

Sharing the same view, Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, director of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development, said though free trade agreements, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), will reduce many tariffs to zero in member countries, Vietnamese exports, especially farm products, can face non-tariff barriers. If local enterprises failed to focus on these issues, their products will not gain access to CPTPP countries.

Tran Van Cong, deputy director of the Department of Agro-product Processing and Market Development at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the ministry was working with agencies to support export enterprises to meet global standards.

With preferential policies on land investment and value-added and corporate taxes for enterprises, the number of investment projects for key exports is expected to increase, he said./.

( VNF/Hanoi Times )