Supermarkets help boost farm produce exports

The presence of many giant retailers in Vietnam is expected to create new distributing channels for domestic agricultural products, giving local farm produce more chances to enter foreign markets, according to the Nong nghiep Vietnam (Vietnam Agriculture) Newspaper.
The presence of many giant retailers in Vietnam is expected to createnew distributing channels for domestic agricultural products, givinglocal farm produce more chances to enter foreign markets, according tothe Nong nghiep Vietnam (Vietnam Agriculture) Newspaper.

Duringthe last 16 years, Big C, the French supermarket chain under theumbrella of Casino Group, has exported Vietnamese goods, mainlygarments, farm and aquatic products and rattan fine art products toCasino branches in various countries, with around 1,100 containers eachyear, said Ho Quoc Nguyen, director of public relations at Big CSupermarket.

According to Nguyen, shrimps, fish andcuttlefish have been sold to Casino branches in France, some SouthAmerican countries and Indian Ocean nations, while dragon fruit has beenshipped to France.

He said that in the coming time Big C willcontinue exports to Casino branches as this is one of the key businessactivities of the retailer.

Metro Cash and Carry Vietnam (MetroVietnam) has cooperated with relevant agencies to increase local farmproduce exports to foreign countries since mid-2013. In the last sixmonths of 2013, Metro Vietnam purchased 6 million USD worth ofagricultural products to provide for stores in the Metro chainworldwide.

In 2014, the supermarket exported 7 million USD worthof vegetables and fruits such as garlic, ginger, passion fruit andrambutan as well as sea food.

Although Metro Vietnam istransferring its wholesale business to Berli Jucker Corporation ofThailand (BJC Thailand), the export of agricultural products willcontinue, said Phillip Bacac, managing director of Metro Vietnam, sayingthat demands for Vietnamese sea food are growing in Metro chainworldwide.

Furthermore, there are an increasing number ofsupermarket chains selling Vietnamese products abroad. Last year, SaigonCoop sold a raft of farm produce to Singaporean NTUC FairPricesupermarket chain, including rice, fruits, vegetables and processedproducts such as instant noodle. Particularly, the partnership betweenSaigon Coop and FairPriceCoop to open the Xtra hypermarket has createdfavourable conditions for Vietnamese products to enter stores of thisSingaporean supermarket chain.

Aeon Vietnam, though a new comer to the Vietnamese market, is quick to ship Vietnamese products to Japan.

Recently,retailers in foreign countries have organised a number of promotionprogrammes and exhibitions to introduce Vietnamese farm produce, whichis a boost to local exports.

In addition, some supermarketsare building their own cultivation areas to supply farm produce meetingsafety standards, with Metro Vietnam as an example.

Exportactivities boosted by retailers’ distributing channel will make greatcontributions to fostering relations between businesses and localresidents, paving way to form high-quality and safe material areas.-VNA

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