Russian foods eye Vietnamese market

HCM City (VNA) – The Russian Export Centre organised a trade promotion programme in Ho Chi Minh City on December 14 to facilitate the export of Russian foods into the Vietnamese market.

The event was attended by 20 Russian exporters and representatives from domestic supermarkets, distributors and import – export businesses.

Robert Kurilo, Head of the Centre’s Hanoi Office, said Vietnam and Russia has a long-term cooperative relations, however, their two-way trade remains modest.

The centre is hosting a range of trade promotion activities in Vietnam, in the hope of laying a foundation for stronger cooperation between Russian and Vietnamese businesses.

Numerous Russian food and beverage products were introduced to Vietnamese partners, such as instant cereal, confectionery, fruit juice, meat products, many of which were brought to Vietnam for the first time.

Klimova Elena, General Director of Znamensky Company, highlighted the competitiveness of Russian foods in terms of quality and price, saying that the event presented an opportunity for Russian foods to enter Vietnam.

For her part, Doan Thi My Linh, from the Saigon Trading Group, said the group aims to import foreign foods to diversify the supply of goods in its supermarkets, saying that Russian foods, which contain no preservatives will be Vietnamese consumers’ favourite choice.

Participants also discussed several challenges for Russian foods to enter Vietnam, such as strict competition with other foreign brands, and high transport costs.-VNA