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Toy industry in limbo
Vietnam, where up to 30 million children aged between 0-14 years old are living, is seen as an attractive market for the toy indsutry.
Toy traders said they are enjoying booming business thanks to the people’s improved living conditions and their increasing care for children. In week-ends, Children’s Day on June 1, and their mid-autumn festival, toys, both imported and domestically-made, are sold well everywhere.
Kids’ toys are found at small booths in rural areas and every urban corners, as well as supermarkets and trade centres.
Big cities also have shopping malls and large markets specialising this kind of wares. Luong Van Can, Hang Ma streets and Dong Xuan market in Hanoi, or Cho Lon and An Dong markets in Ho Chi Minh City are places where children find themselves lost in the world of toys made of various materials like wood, bamboo, terra-cotta, leather, or plastic.
However, the domestic market is still largely occupied by made-in-China toys for their good designs, diverse types and cheap prices.
Domestic producers, numbering 100 nationwide, still hold a modest market stake though their products, including stuffed animals, wood and plastic toys, have won local consumers’ favour.
Foreign producers have been showing their interest in the local market through plans to seek for and expand agent networks.
A Japanese leading toy producer, Takara Tomy, has put into operation a factory in northern Hai Phong port city.
Le Duy Tien, Director of the Vietnam Fund for Supporting Technological Creations (VIFOTEC), said Vietnamese scientists were still indifferent to technologies for children’s toy production.
According to him, there was no toy-related creation amongst more than 2,000 entries for the annual VIFOTECH awards during the past 10 years.
The Vietnam Association of Mechanics’ Secretary General Do Sanh said that only when businesses join hand in realising scientists’ creative ideas, the industry can find out it ways for development.
Thus, the promulgation of quality and safety standards for children’s toys and incentives for the cooperation between scientists and businesses are needed to boost the toy industry, experts said.
VNA
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