HCM City(VNS/VNA) – Vietnam has a diverse and well-developed agricultural and foodindustry that offers vast opportunities to companies in the food industry, fromsourcing to processing, a Hong Kong speaker said at a forum held on September19 in HCM City.

More than 300 representatives from Vietnamese firms as well as 30 companiesfrom Hong Kong (China), Japan, mainland China and the Republic of Koreaparticipated in the Forum for Trade and Investment Promotion for the Vietnam’s FoodSector.

Stephen Liang, assistant executive director of the Hong Kong Trade DevelopmentCouncil (HKTDC), said Hong Kong and the 10 ASEAN member states formally signeda free trade agreement and related investment agreement last November.

“These agreements marked a major milestone for Hong Kong-ASEAN collaboration ontrade and economic matters, of which Vietnam has been a close trading partnerin ASEAN for Hong Kong,” he said.

As Vietnam is one of the most dynamic emerging countries in East Asia, with arising middle class willing to eat non-local foods, he said.

“I believe the high-quality food products our delegates offer will attractthem. Professional service provision is another major area that stands a verygood chance for further collaboration.”

Many companies in Vietnam want to reach out to overseas markets, including thefast-growing Chinese mainland.

“As an international business hub, Hong Kong service providers can offer a widerange of services, from logistics and supply chain management to marketing andpackaging to assist Vietnamese companies,” he said.  

Vu Ba Phu, head of the Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industryand Trade, said in recent years Vietnam’s food industry had been developingrapidly, supplying a number of highly competitive products for exports and thelocal market.

“The country’s annual food consumption value is estimated at 15 percent of thecountry’s GDP.”  

Statistics show that over the past five years, consumption of processed foodshas increased by 9.68 percent per year, and consumption of beverages by 6.66percent per year.

According to estimates by BMI Research, Vietnam’s food industry will reachannual growth rate of 10.9 percent during the 2015-20 period, which willpromote business opportunities and trade and investment for Vietnamese foodcompanies.

Exports of farm produce in the first six months were estimated at 13.5 billionUSD, up 9.5 percent from the same period of 2017.

Of the figures, exports of fruits and vegetables increased by 20.9 percent withtotal value of 2.01 billion USD.

Exports of seafood and aquaculture increased by 11 percent with total value of 3.96billion USD in the period.

Vietnamese farm produce have been exported to 100 countries and territories.

"Vietnam has been a member of the WTO since 2007 and has signed 10 freetrade agreements (FTAs) with other countries, opening up opportunities forbusinesses to invest in Vietnam, especially in the food processingindustry," Phu said.

Vietnam, which is one of the largest exporters of rice, coffee and cashew nuts,also has great potential for export of processed food, according to Phu.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) will continue to work with theMinistry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment and other agencies to offer the most favourable conditions forinvestors in the processed food industry.

The Trade Promotion Agency will continue to cooperate with agencies to holdmore trade promotion activities for enterprises in the food industry.

Speakers also discussed other issues in the food industry such as raw materials,new trends in processed food products and new technologies to increase addedvalue. 

At the event, 50 exhibitors from 50 Vietnamese cities and provinces, includingHCM City, An Giang, Soc Trang, Nghe An, Bac Giang, Can Tho and Kien Giang,displayed their farm produce products. 

The forum was organised by the MoIT’s Trade Promotion Agency.-VNS/VNA