The international online trade conference for food ingredients, natural pharmaceuticals in Vietnam took place from September 23-25. organized by the Trade Promotion Agency (Ministry of Industry and Trade) in cooperation with the Helvetas Vietnam Project and the Vietnamese Trade Offices abroad.

The event of the National Trade Promotion Program 2020 aims to widely promote the export potentials and strengths of Vietnam's food ingredients and natural pharmaceuticals; at the same time, connecting Vietnamese manufacturing and exporting enterprises with potential import, distribution, wholesale and retail business partners in foreign markets on the online environment, in terms of enterprises. The country has many difficulties in promoting trade with foreign countries because of the COVID-19 epidemic.

At the meeting, 21 enterprises producing and supplying food ingredients, natural pharmaceuticals of Vietnam, respectively, have online 1: 1 transactions with more than 100 foreign enterprises and importers. market.

The categories to be introduced, promoted and traded at the conference include: tea, cinnamon, anise, chrysanthemum herbs, essential oils, health care and beauty products, sap ...

Vietnam's agriculture - natural raw materials industry is in an impressive transition

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Vu Ba Phu, Director General of the Trade Promotion Agency (Trade Promotion), said that Vietnam's agriculture and natural materials industry is undergoing an impressive transition, bringing Vietnam. become an important source of food ingredients and natural pharmaceuticals for the world market.

“Vietnam is becoming the ideal choice in the current context when we have an abundant supply of food ingredients, natural pharmaceuticals with guaranteed quality, suitable for many different consumption segments to supply for the international market ”, Mr. Vu Ba Phu emphasized.

Over the past years, through diversified trade promotion activities and technical support, importers, wholesalers, retailers as well as people in many regions of the world have had a different view on the process. modernization and innovation of Vietnam's natural raw materials industry.

Vietnam's food ingredients and natural pharmaceutical enterprises are increasingly meeting the strict requirements and requirements of foreign partners, capable of providing products with high added value and quality. good quality, safe for many of the top importers and premium distribution channels in many regions of the world.

Expert perspective

Economists, forecasting agricultural experts, food ingredients, and natural pharmaceuticals can completely turn the COVID-19 challenge into a development opportunity, especially boosting export growth in the months. By the end of 2020, because with good results of COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control of Vietnam, people and businesses believe to continue to invest and participate in production, which will create a timely supply for export processing enterprises. It is forecasted that, after translating the US, EU, Japan, South Korea markets, there will be a great demand for Vietnamese food ingredients and natural pharmaceuticals.

In particular, experts forecast that Vietnam's exports of food materials and natural pharmaceuticals to the EU will grow highly in the coming time thanks to the EVFTA Agreement. According to statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the export turnover of agriculture, forestry and fishery to the EU in August 2020 reached 350 million USD, up 17% compared to July 2020.

Enterprises perspective

About enterprises, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tuan, Project Director of Biotrade said that more than 5,000 natural ingredients (out of a total of 10,000 animal species) are sourced from Vietnam, used as raw materials for the food industry. pharmaceutical products. Hundreds of them have export potential. Along with that, hundreds of small and medium enterprises as agricultural producers, many supply chains / products are internationally certified. Business support organizations (BSOs) are always ready to provide effective service.

Appreciating Vietnam's potential for food ingredients, natural pharmaceuticals, Mr. DC Choi, representative of Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), Vietnam is rich in natural resources with fertile soil. fat, abundant sunshine and almost year-round rainfall. These are very good conditions for cultivation. Vietnam has many agricultural products on the list of top exporting countries such as pepper, rice, coffee, seafood and tea.

According to Mr. DC Choi, Vietnam has good ingredients and know-how to produce food. If Vietnamese businesses can combine with the investment of food processing companies like Korea, there will be opportunities to add value to the product.

“Expanding production scale, with a higher level of hygiene control with international standards and professional marketing is what we should do”, emphasized Mr. DC Choi.

Mr. DC Choi said, the KOTRA side will seek to increase the value of food ingredients in Vietnam and connect them with Korean food processing technology and investment, helping Vietnamese farms export agricultural products. Vietnam with higher size and quantity.

Mr. DC Choi also noted that in order to attract foreign investment and food processing technology, the company must first ensure a firm foothold in the domestic market, becoming a reliable and well-known supplier. Domestic language is a prerequisite for searching for export markets… The development of additional functional foods or supplements with purely natural ingredients will also add value to the industry. Ensuring pure natural ingredient recognition is one of the essential parts to success in this field.

Trade Promotion Agency and HELVETAS Vietnam are always ready to cooperate

In order to support the development of Vietnamese pharmaceutical and food ingredients enterprises, Mr. Pham Van Luong, Director of Helvetas Vietnam, said that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have been identified as important factors. important in economic development value chains, is a key object of the projects that HELVETAS Vietnam has been implementing.

In order to achieve the parallel goals in sustainable trade development, HELVETAS Vietnam and the Trade Promotion Department also cooperate to implement the following activities: organizing and participating in trade promotion events at home and abroad to support the enterprises introduce products, explore market opportunities, thereby increase opportunities to connect and expand both domestic and export markets with products meeting international certification standards; support and support the implementation of trade promotion policies; implementing trade promotion, investment promotion on domestic and international media.

On the side of the Trade Promotion Department, Mr. Vu Ba Phu affirmed that the Department is always ready to coordinate and create favorable conditions for Vietnamese businesses and foreign importers to have more opportunities to connect effectively to business. , sustainable and stable.

Continuously organizing online trade conferences for agricultural products in recent years, the Department of Trade Promotion hopes that many businesses will take advantage of this opportunity to grasp market trends and cooperation opportunities. to boost the export of the group of food raw materials, natural pharmaceutical products of Vietnam in the coming time.

The trading sessions will be extended to the end of September 25, 2020.