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Firms get lowdown on exports to Mideast, Africa
Experts underlined the potential of Middle Eastern and African markets and discussed measures to help Vietnamese businesses boost exports to these markets at a seminar held in HCM City on Mar. 11.
Ly Quoc Hung, Director General of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Department of Africa, West Asia and South Asia, said the Middle East achieved a GDP growth of 4 per cent last year.
There are four major economies, namely Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE and Turkey.
They had open financial and banking policies to attract foreign investment, he said.
Viet Nam's trade with the Middle East reached US$3.31 billion last year, of which its exports were worth $1.65 billion.
The major export items were textile, footwear, seafood, rice, coffee, pepper, electronic parts, rubber, and furniture.
Viet Nam imported raw materials for plastic, oil, fertilisers, chemicals, and steel.
African countries import mostly consumer goods, machinery and drugs and also have major demand for technology and agricultural produce.
However, trade between Viet Nam and Africa remains modest, with Viet Nam's exports worth $1.8 billion and imports, $767 million.
The major markets here include Egypt, South Africa, Angola, Nigeria, Ghana and Algeria.
Letters of credit are not a popular mode of payment, with African nations preferring to use D/P, or documents against payment.
Businesses should also pay attention to product labels which must be in Arabic, Hung said, while in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, they should be also in French.
Dang Ngoc Quang, former commercial counsellor at the Vietnamese embassies in the UAE and Egypt, said: "Vietnamese businesses need to have thorough understanding of market demand, policy barriers, distribution channels and prices before launching appropriate products in the market."
For instance, there was a great demand in Egypt for Vietnamese tra catfish but Vietnamese exporters had not succeeded in the market because of lack of long-term strategies, he said.
Some businesses had frittered away their prestige by selling low-quality products, he added.
Vietnamese businesses should increase trade promotion in the two markets, especially by taking part in exhibitions.
In the Middle East, one retail exhibition in Dubai lasts three months while there are many others in Oman, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria and Morocco.
Quang assured businesses that they should not need to worry about anti-dumping taxes in either region since they had shortages of many goods.
Pepper, for instance, was an item for which they depended completely on imports.
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