Belgian start-up brings Vietnamese coconut water to EU consumers

François Colonval, manager of South Export Alliance (Photo: vneconomy)

François Colonval, manager of South Export Alliance, said that he founded the company in 2016 with a hope to introduce Vietnam’s fresh coconut water to Belgium consumers.

South Export Alliance now becomes the exclusive distributor of Cocoxim coconut water for all Asian restaurants and some supermarkets in Belgium, and also exports this kind of product to France and the Czech Republic. Every few months, the company imports from Betrimex a container weighing 25 tonnes of products.

Canned pure fresh coconut water has become popular among consumers in Belgium. (Photo: vneconomy)

Since the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) officially took effect with preferential tariffs offered for Vietnamese agricultural products imported into the European market, South Export Alliance has conditions to expand business opportunities in importing goods from Vietnam. Along with coconut water, François has also imported other products such as rice paper and dried vermicelli.

He sees many advantages when looking for partners in Vietnam to import goods with incentives from the EVFTA. Currently, François is working with large Belgian customers to import other Vietnamese food and beverage products such as Hanoi beer and Saigon beer because he wants Belgian customers to enjoy the taste of Vietnamese beer even though Belgium is the kingdom of beer.

Source: VNA