A delegation representing 10 French companies will travel to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City from Feb. 28 – March 2 to examine the plastics and packing industries in Vietnam.

The trip, organised by the French Trade Commission in Vietnam (UBIFRANCE), will enable the French businesses to improve their understanding of Vietnam’s policies and business opportunities through meetings with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Plastics, Rubber and Packing Association.

Visits to industrial sites are also planned throughout the country, including a plant operated by the French group Arkema, near Ho Chi Minh City.

These companies are also in a position to offer advanced technologies and services to prospective Vietnamese partners with a series of more than 50 business meetings already scheduled. This will help to develop sustainable commercial, industrial and technological partnerships.

They will have more opportunities to make new contacts during their visit to Vietnam’s 2012 Plastics & Rubber Exhibition and the 2012 International Processing, Filling and Packaging Exhibition with 210 exhibitors and 7,000 visitors expected.

Because of the poor development of support industries in Vietnam, plastics and packing manufacturers have to import 85 percent of their materials and 70 percent of the machinery. Therefore the French firms are in a position to deliver different technologies or services, such as Jm Polymers and Paprec for materials, Rep Injection, Sise and Kareville for machinery, and Wise, Mecafonction and Curtil for molding equipment.

Vietnamese companies are upgrading quickly and aiming to develop the best technologies, mainly to get a foothold in the international market. This explains the interest in innovative firms such as Roctool or Newtec Bag Palletizing.-VNA