Twenty Vietnamese businesses are showcasing their products at the 2010 International Food Industry Exhibition in Seoul, the Republic of Korea (RoK).
During the four-day exhibition, which ends on May 15, Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in association with the Vietnamese embassy and trade affairs mission in the RoK held a seminar on enhancing cooperation between Vietnam and the RoK in the agro-seafood trade.
Addressing the event, MARD Deputy Minister Diep Kinh Tan said that his ministry have liaised with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to organise events and seminars to promote Vietnam’s products overseas, especially in the RoK, to help increase Vietnam’s exports of agricultural, forestry and fisheries products to the country.
“Vietnamese businesses have made a good impression at this exhibition, which hopefully will help us in our trade promotion,” said Tan.
He went on to say that Vietnam ’s agro-forestry and fisheries sector has applied environmental-friendly technologies and facilities in its production process to meet food hygiene and quality requirements to turn out a range of high-quality products.
Vietnam has carried out a number of quality management programmes, including the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) in farm and seafood processing, Tan added.
Officials from the Republic of Korea’s Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) stated that Vietnamese farm and seafood products are of better quality compared with other Southeast Asian countries, said the deputy minister reported.
Vietnam exports mainly seafood’s, coffee and sliced cassava to the RoK.
According to figures released by the RoK’s customs, along with its two main staples, coal and crude oil, Vietnam exported more than 232.9 million USD worth of seafood to the RoK in 2009. Vietnam is also the nation to export the largest volume of seafood to the RoK, accounting to up to 99 percent of frozen shrimp turnover from ASEAN into the RoK during the 2007-09 period. Vietnam is also amongst the leading nations in exporting coffee beans and sliced cassava to the RoK, with revenues fetching 63.6 million USD and 35.3 million USD, respectively, in 2009.
Vietnam now enjoys many advantages in quality and pricing allowing it to compete in the RoK market, said the deputy minister.
However, he suggested that Vietnamese businesses upgrade the capability of their technologies to improve the quality of their products and reduce prices to maintain their market share.
Vietnam is currently negotiating deals to export rice, dragon fruit and a number of other products to the RoK, he added./.