In the afternoon of September 23, 2020, the Trade Promotion Agency (Trade Promotion - Ministry of Industry and Trade) cooperated with Helvetas Vietnam Project and Vietnamese Trade Offices abroad ... to organize International Online Trade Conference food ingredients, natural pharmaceuticals of Vietnam.

The event of the National Trade Promotion Program in 2020 aims to widely promote the export potentials and strengths of Vietnam's agricultural products, foodstuffs and natural pharmaceuticals and connect businesses and export of Vietnam with potential import, distribution, wholesale and retail business partners in foreign markets on the online environment.

Speaking at the plenary session of the conference, Mr. Vu Ba Phu, Director of the Trade Promotion Department said that Vietnam's agriculture and natural materials industry was undergoing an impressive transition to make Vietnam become sources of food ingredients and natural pharmaceuticals that are important to the world market.

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 of modernization and innovation of Vietnam's natural raw materials industry.

Vietnamese 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, good quality and safe for many leading importers and premium distribution channels in many regions of the world. According to the Director General Vu Ba Phu, with the effective control of the Covid 19 epidemic in Vietnam, Vietnamese agricultural and food enterprises can maintain safe and stable production and supply activities for the domestic and international markets.

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

On the side of 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 industry of food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products. Hundreds of them have potential export. 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 of food ingredients, natural pharmaceuticals, Mr. DC Choi, representative of Korea Trade & Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), Vietnam is rich in natural resources with fertile soil, 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”, Mr. DC Choi emphasized. 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 to help Vietnamese farms to export agricultural products of 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.

To support the development of Vietnamese pharmaceutical and food ingredients enterprises, Mr. Pham Van Luong, Director of Helvetas Vietnam said that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been identified as important factors in economic development value chains that 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; supporting 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 business effectively, sustainably and stably.

Immediately after the Plenary Session, 21 enterprises manufacturing and supplying food ingredients and natural pharmaceuticals in Vietnam traded online 1: 1 with more than 100 foreign enterprises, importers and the market.

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

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