Mangos processed for export at Southern Nafoods Joint Stock Company in the southern province of Long An (Photo: VNA) Currently many Vietnamese products are unpopular in Russia despite thehuge market demand, online newspaper dangcongsan.vn cited ViceChairwoman of the Russia – Vietnam Friendship Association (RVFA) ReginaBudarina as saying.
For example, fresh Thai mangoes are available in Russia, but lack ofconsumption channels has led to the rare presence of Vietnamese mangoes in thismarket thus customers who have demand for this fruit have to go to markets orcafes operated by the Vietnamese.
Also, Russian customers prefer Indian rice to that of Vietnam dueto more competitive prices.
In order to effectively penetrate the Russian market, she suggestedVietnamese businesses follow the shortest path which is to promote marketresearch. Although initially, market research might cost businesses a lot ofmoney, but in the future, it would facilitate their exports to Russia, shesaid.
Frequent seminars and exhibitions would be also needed to bringVietnamese products closer to the Russian market, she said, adding thatVietnamese firms should consider shipping their goods to Russia by rail throughChina to reduce transportation costs.
According to the Vietnamese Trade Office in Russia, farmproduce, food and consumer goods are mainly sold at retail chains.Besides product quality and design, businesses also needed to ensuresufficient supply of goods.
In order to bring goods into these chains, in addition to productquality and design; businesses need to meet the important requirement ofconstantly having stock at the warehouse to supply regularly to stores.
The good news is that at present, a number of agricultural products andprocessed agricultural products from Vietnam have graduallyaccessed Russian retail systems, such as mango, chili sauce, dippingsauce, pomelo and dragon fruit, the office said.
However, the quantity of items was still modest, itnoted.
Over the past years, the office has connected many Vietnameseenterprises with suppliers who provided Vietnamese agriculturalproducts such as ginger, grapefruit, and vegetables to the Russiansupermarket chains.
However, Vietnamese firms have still encountered severaldifficulties due to their failure in ensuring stable and long-term supply ofgoods in large quantities. Therefore, in order to export to Russian stably, thefirms needed to draw up a suitable strategy and build a supplysystem in the host country to supply supermarket chains there, the officesaid.
Along with the efforts of trade promotion organisations and domesticindustry associations in connecting the two countries' businesses amid thecomplicated development of the COVID-19 pandemic, the office said itwould continue to facilitate trade promotion activities in order to supportbusinesses in the new context while organising seminars and businessmatching events on specific industries and fields in order to createopportunities for Vietnamese goods to enter the Russian market.
Meanwhile, in order to maintain growth and improve the market shareof Vietnamese agricultural and seafood products in Russia, economists advisedbusinesses to focus on ensuring the prestige and quality of export products,boost processed farm produce exports, and diversify the range of products madefrom fresh fruits to improve their competitiveness in Russia.
Relevant authorities needed to strengthen assistance for tradepromotion and market forecasting, and provide specific information to helpbusinesses prepare for approaching and expanding trade with Russia, they said.
Over the past six months of 2021, two-way trade reached 2.62 billionUSD, up 16 percent percent year-on-year, with Vietnameseexports worth 1.66 billion USD, up 31 percentyear-on-year, according to the General Department of Customs.
Among staples recording a significant turnover increase were textile andgarment with 195 million USD, up 54 percent; seafood with 87.5 millionUSD, up 64 percent; fruit and vegetables with 42 million USD, up 50 percent;cashew nuts with 25.3 million USD, up 48 percent; electronics, computers andparts with 253 million USD, up 46 percent, handsets and component with over 500million USD, up 6.4 percent.
From January to June, Vietnam's imports from Russia saw a modest declineof 3.3 percent to over 967 million USD with main goodsincluding chemical products; paper, pharmaceuticals, plasticmaterials and automobiles./.
VNA
