Vietnam attractive in foreigners’ eyes…

With the retail market growth rate of 20% per annum, Vietnam has been recognized by many prestigious survey companies as one of the most attractive markets in the world.

In the days just before the 2009 Tet, five farmers from Taiwan arrived in HCM City on their first trip to Vietnam to seek the opportunities to sell oranges and other farm produce that they grow.

“Before coming to Vietnam, I found out that China-made fresh fruits are dominating Vietnam’s market. And we plan to bring Taiwan-made fruits to Vietnam,” said Yang Ping Hsin, Chairman of the Phong Nguyen Farmers’ Association.

The farmers said that they read the documents about Vietnam’s market prepared by Taiwanese agencies in Vietnam about the Vietnamese people’s income and purchasing power, and they have found the market to be really attractive.

Prior to that, the Deputy Director of the South Korean Trade Promotion Centre in Singapore led a delegation of small South Korean businesses to HCM City to organize a small exhibition, introducing processed food products to be exported to Vietnam.

Mi Jeong Song, Deputy Director of the centre, said that South Korean businessmen think that Vietnam’s is really a good target market. “In general, Vietnam’s market should not be missed,” she said.

…and to domestic producers

Tam, the owner of a drink shop on Nguyen Tri Phuong Street in District 10, HCM City, related that on previous Tet holidays, her customers mainly purchased fizzy drinks. However, it was quite different during the 2009 Tet because the customers only drank still drinks made by domestic producers.

“Green tea and fruit juice products of domestic brand names were sold like hot cakes on Tet,” she said.

Businessmen have estimated that fruit juice and still drinks now account for 40% of the drinks market. During the 2009 Tet, the consumption of fizzy drink products increased by 20-30% over the previous year, while fruit juice, green tea, and drinks enriched with vitamins, had the impressive growth rate of between 100-300%.

With specific drink products which are quite different from any other product, Tan Hiep Phat, a 100% Vietnamese owned company, is leading the domestic drinks market. According to TNS, a market survey company, the green tea product of Tan Hiep Phat topped the list of ten product items which had the highest growth rates in 2007. The trademark was also seen in 2008’s list of ten product items which had the highest growth rates.

The story of X-men

The success story of X-men, a trademark of ICP Company like Tan Hiep Phat’s story, showed that even when the market is full of powerful international brand names, Vietnamese companies still can find the positions for them.

In 2003, when X-men shampoo for men was created, the domestic market was dominated by big international big names from the Netherlands, South Korea, and Malaysia.

However, X-men has gradually conquered domestic consumers, having become one of the five leading shampoo trademarks.

Regarding the garment domestic market, according to Le Quoc An, Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas), the total retail turnover on the market is expected to reach US $3.5 billion in 2009 and then US $6 billion in 2010, which means the annual average growth rate of 18-20% per annum.

An pointed out that the domestic market can also bring attractive profit if producers know how and what to do. An said that the production of low-grade products, which have the retail price at VND 60,000 on average, will bring the profit of VND 5,000/product. However, with high-grade products, which have the retail price between VND 550,000-VND one million/product, the profit may be 50 times higher than that brought by low-grade products.
Source: VietNamNet/Tuoi tre