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Vu Ba Phu, Director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, speaks at the policy dialogue. (Photo: Bnews) |
Vu Ba Phu, Director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that about 5,080 Vietnamese businesses are operating in the food industry, surging 83.8% from 2019, which is an encouraging figure after two years of struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the last five years, the volumes of food and beverage consumption in the country have risen by 9.68% and 6.66%, respectively.
The processed vegetable and fruit segment makes up 24.7% of the industry’s revenue and is expected to post the fastest growth thanks to strong export and domestic consumption. Notably, this segment has witnessed growth of nearly 205%. The most favored fruits include mango, banana, dragon fruit, orange, and pineapple, he noted.
In particular, the food industry is among the key ones prioritized by the Vietnamese government by 2025, with a vision to 2035, and also has an important role to play in socio-economic development, Phu went on.
In recent years, the food industry associations of Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) have promoted cooperation. Vietnamese firms have also benefited from business partnerships with major Korean enterprises such as Lotte Mart, E-mart, Home Plus, and CJ to increase their presence in the RoK’s supermarkets and shopping centers like Coupang and Gmarket, and gradually enter the Northeast Asian country’s e-commerce market, the official added.
Paul Le, Vice President of Central Retail Vietnam’s trade promotion division, held that Korean enterprises should grasp import opportunities since Vietnam produces many foods hardly found in the RoK.
His firm will consider assisting Korean enterprises by sharing experience in processing, producing, and creating new products in the fast-moving consumer goods sector, he noted, adding that Vietnam has a large volume of raw materials, and Central Retail Vietnam looks to boost added value through processing.
Vietnam has become a key destination for Korean companies, and the Korean firms operating here hold an important role in purchasing materials for processing and exporting to other countries, said a representative of the Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA)
Bilateral trade in agro-forestry-fishery products has also been on the rise. The RoK has strongly opened its agriculture under its free trade agreements with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Vietnam. This liberalization process has turned the RoK into the fourth largest importer of Vietnam’s agro-forestry-fishery products, after the U.S., China, and Australia, according to KOTRA.
Source: VNA