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Businesses seek diplomats’ assistance to expand markets
Vietnamese seafood products have “limitless potential” in Russia if they can meet the quality requirements of this market, Bui Dinh Dinh, ambassador to Russia, says.
Producers and exporters, hurt by the global economic slowdown, say they are in dire need of assistance from Vietnamese missions abroad to expand their markets.
Their major markets, like the US, the EU and Japan, have shrunk due a recession that could last well into next year and no one knows when it would end, they said at their annual meeting with Vietnamese ambassadors in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City this week.
Finding new markets would help but they know little about them with respect to demand and payment, they said.
Ho Duc Lam, vice chairman of the Vietnam Plastics Association, said Vietnamese businesses want to look beyond their traditional US and European markets to the Middle East.
He asked for assistance from diplomats posted in the region to effectively promote Vietnamese goods and services and obtain payments.
An executive from My A Company said her firm plans to expand into Nigeria and the country’s central bank has agreed to provide credit.
But she said My A is not confident since the market is completely new and it did not have information about the country or the bank.
“When we sought advice from a Vietnamese diplomat in the country, we received an uncertain answer about the [central bank’s] commitment since settlement of disputes involving Nigerian contracts partners is complicated,” she said.
Le Thi Giau, chairwoman of Tan Hung Company, said diplomats should apprise businesses about importers in the countries they are based in.
It would help the businesses avoid anti-dumping suits, she pointed out.
The government said in a report this month that demand from the US, the EU and Japan for products like clothes and wooden furniture, some of Vietnam’s key exports, has dropped by up to 30 percent, without specifying over what period.
The government has predicted export growth to slow to about 13 percent next year from 33 percent this year.
Patience, quality
Le Quoc Hung, Vietnamese consul general in San Francisco, said he understands the difficulties Vietnamese businesses face as consumption sharply declines in the US, their major market.
Vietnamese exporters should be patient and focus on more competitive products as Americans now turn to less expensive goods to cope with the recession, he said.
“They should also keep promoting their products to retain customers or they will lose out to other rivals,” he told Thanh Nien Daily.
The consulate would lead a campaign to promote major Vietnamese exports next year in San Francisco, where there are about 700,000 to 800,000 people of Vietnamese origin – half of all overseas Vietnamese in the US and a quarter globally.
Nguyen Phu Binh, ambassador to Japan, said exporters should not neglect quality.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Doan Xuan Hung said diplomats and heads of representative offices abroad are trying their best to provide exporters essential information.
Bui Dinh Dinh, ambassador to Russia, said Vietnamese businesses should promote their products in Russian.
Russia is a promising market for seafood, footwear, woodwork and textiles as well as guest workers, he said.
“If your seafood products can meet their quality [requirements], you have limitless potential,” Dinh added. Vietnam’s seafood exports to Russia are worth around US$222 million a year.
Nguyen Quang Khai, ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, said the kingdom, which faces a labor shortage, plans to recruit 500,000 Vietnamese workers. The country also wants Vietnam to build schools and vocational training and health care centers to help its workers.
He said the UAE is a “rather easy” market for almost all products and only imposes a 5 percent import duty.
Minh Quang
Thanh Nien
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