Firms need proper approaches to foreign markets

Hanoi (VNA) – Businesses must learn how to access international distribution networks, Vietnamese trade counselor in Switzerland Nguyen Manh Quyen said.

He suggested relevant agencies reduce the time needed for administrative and customs procedures to make it easier for businesses – especially small- and medium-sized ones – to sell their products to foreign markets.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade built a project urging businesses to get involved in the international distribution network through 2020, which was approved by the Prime Minister in September 2015.

The project aims to increase Vietnam’s export turnover via foreign distributors in the country such as Big C, Aeon, Lotte Mart and Metro, while reducing exports of locally made products such as coffee, garments and textiles, footwear and timber products through intermediaries.

Most Vietnamese trade counselors abroad said the project should be made a key national programme.

Careful preparation, from creating product samples to marketing campaigns, is needed to increase the presence of Vietnamese goods in global markets, they added.

According to Dang Hoang Hai, Head of the European Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, most Vietnamese commodities are shipped abroad through intermediaries.

But after signing the export contracts, businesses do not know where their products are distributed, he said, adding that some commodities are not even labeled as “made in Vietnam”.

As a result, businesses could not respond to customer demand and compete with other countries.

He noted that intermediary exports would not create value or increase the competitiveness of enterprises.-VNA