Le Viet Nga, deputy director of the Domestic MarketDepartment, told a conference organised by the High Quality VietnameseProducts Business Association and Ba Ria-Vung Tau province on Feb. 14that the provinces should offer incentives to develop their tradinginfrastructure.
The provinces are Ba Ria-Vung Tau, BinhDuong, Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai, and Tay Ninh, and the event was the firstactivity under an agreement the association signed last month with theirindustry and trade departments to help businesses expand in the region.
Nga also called on the five provinces to establishclose links with local producers to set up an efficient distributionsystem for locally-made goods.
Vu Quoc Chinh of the HCMCity-based Business Study and Assistance Center said the region,with a higher income than other regions, is a promising market forVietnamese goods.
Its total retail goods turnover in 2010was an estimated 162.77 trillion VND (7.79 billion USD), accounting for10.5 percent of the country's total.
But despite its potential, not many local producers have agents or shops there, Chinh said.
Vu Kim Hanh, chairwoman of the High Quality Vietnamese ProductsBusiness Association, said traditional markets are the main distributionchannel in the region, but since local firms do not promote theirproducts at these markets, the ratio of Vietnamese goods they sellremains very low.
Tran Ngoc Thoi, deputy chairman of theBa Ria-Vung Tau province People's Committee, said a scattereddistribution system and lack of co-ordination among localities has meantthe region's retail sector has failed to meet its potential.
Delegates listed the difficulties in penetrating this market, includinga shortage of market information and poor distribution system.
Besides, they hesitated to take their products to the traditionalmarkets because they had too many shortcomings like poor infrastructure,lack of hygiene, and selling of dubious products. To increase sales ofVietnamese goods at the traditional markets, delegates agreed thatbesides improving infrastructure, provincial authorities and enterprisesshould also pay more attention to improving small traders' sale skills./.