The more than 5 million Vietnamese people living and working in 130 countries have helped bring Vietnamese goods, especially farm produce, to the world.

The consumer market of Vietnamese products in the world is increasingly expanding. In addition to the efforts to standardise the quality of products and the capacity to exploit the market of Vietnamese enterprises, there is also a significant contribution by the Vietnamese community in the host countries. This is also considered an important factor that helps Vietnamese goods to reach further and gain a firm foothold in major markets around the world.

According to Nguyen Le Quoc Tuan, general director of Song Huong Foods specialising in exporting Vietnamese specialties to the US, the company’s export activities have been more favourable as it gets help with procedures to apply for a certification from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

One of the reasons for its export of homegrown specialties to expand in the US market is the clips of Vietnamese cuisine being watched a lot by expatriates, Tuan said, adding that the enterprise itself has also actively propularised products to the overseas Vietnamese (OV) community through social networks.

Nguyen Ngoc Luan, Manager of Global Trade Link Co., Ltd. which is exporting fruit-flavoured coffee and fruits to Australia, the US and the Republic of Korea, said that initially, his company chose distribution partners. However, they did not care about Vietnamese brands, so despite a lot of marketing costs, the firm’s strategy failed.

After that, the company shifted to cooperate with overseas Vietnamese-owned businesses in the host countries. To date, 80% of the company’s partners abroad are OV, and its cooperation in distribution of goods is very convenient. Notably, there is a major distributor in Europe that imports not only coffee but also pomelo and coconut from Vietnam, stated Luan.

Speaking at a hybrid conference on the role of OV communities in the “Vietnamese people prioritise made-in-Vietnam goods” campaign held in Ho Chi Minh City in late June, Pham Viet Hung, director of the department for economic, scientific and technological relations at the Foreign Ministry’s State Committee for OV Affairs, stressed that Vietnamese goods are imported into other countries mainly by foreign firms.

Given this, it is necessary to set up networks and associations of OV entrepreneurs to promote the distribution of Vietnamese goods in foreign markets and prevent market risks, he noted, adding that connection should also be boosted to organise more business forums in other countries to expand the presence of made-in-Vietnam goods in the world.

Vietnamese Trade Counsellor in Australia Nguyen Phu Hoa said that the Vietnamese Embassy is working to diversify trade promotion programmes and coordinating closely with Vietnamese firms to step up marketing goods from the country, especially agricultural products and apparel, in Australia.

At the event, representatives of OV associations and entrepreneurs affirmed that the OV communities are always interested in and want to use Vietnamese goods, and that they are ready to help advertise and establish distribution networks for made-in-Vietnam items in their host countries.

They also suggested some measures to promote the export of Vietnamese goods to global markets.

VNA