Nguyen Tuan, Deputy Director of the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre, addresses the workshop on April 5. (Photo: VNA)Nguyen Tuan, Deputy Director of theHCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre, said economic and traderelations between the two countries have continually been expanded over thepast years.
Bilateral trade stood at 3 billionUSD in the first two months of 2023, including 1.2 billion USD in Vietnam’sexports and 1.8 billion USD in Thailand’s exports, respectively rising 12.4% andfalling 15.2% year on year. Total trade is expected to reach the target of 25billion USD in the near future.
He noted that Thailand has a diverse systemof distribution channels, giving Vietnamese goods many chances to reach Thai consumers.
Both countries and other ASEANmembers are also taking part in many bilateral and multilateral tradeagreements, including the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), the freetrade agreements between ASEAN and partner countries, and especially theRegional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that took effect in early2022. That has helped lift tariff barriers to exports of the two countries andalso created favourable conditions for Vietnam and Thailand to cooperate in formingsupply and production chains and boost export to a third country, Tuan went on.
The official held that though the countries’export structures, especially agricultural and fishery products, are similar,Vietnamese businesses have yet to truly grasp Thai consumers’ taste and habits.Therefore, they should thoroughly learn about the market, especially technicalstandards, processes, and conditions to apply for local authorities’ importcertificates, and apply advanced technology to processing and preservation toguarantee product quality during the transportation process.
Besides, they should also participate in more fairs and exhibitions toadvertise their products, seek suitable partners, and build up the brand ofVietnamese products as quality goods with competitive prices, he added.
Sharing export experience, Director of Real Bean Coffee Van Thi Loan said theconsumer market of Thailand is relatively similar to Vietnam’s in terms ofproducts, but there are some differences in packaging and product sizes, sobusinesses should learn market information to make preparations and meetstandards to access the Thai distribution system.
Aside from producing quality products, it is also necessary to haveinteresting and unique product stories, she said, noting that Thai consumersalso give high priority to production sustainability such as in the use ofenvironmentally friendly technology and recyclable packages.
It will be hard for small- and medium-sized enterprises of Vietnam tosinglehandedly access the distribution system of Thailand, so participating inthe Vietnamese goods weeks or trade promotion events is also an effectivemarketing channel, Loan suggested./.
VNA
