Ho Chi Minh City’s food export activities are assessed to have good prospects and world-leading potential. However, from the beginning of 2025, in order to enter many export markets, businesses in this industry must green up.
Exports grow positively
Having created a fever in the Korean and Japanese markets with a series of Kenju cakes, Jinju rice cakes, and Oatmeal cakes, last June, Richy Food Joint Stock Company continued to bring these product lines to conquer the US market through the Saigon Market and Mekong Market supermarket systems. Sharing about this joy, Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich Son, Brand Director of Richy Food Joint Stock Company in the South, said that in order to export to the above countries, the partner had conducted many surveys, even went to the place to evaluate the growing area, raw material input and many other criteria.
In particular, input materials meeting safety standards are mandatory but not enough. In order to "join hands" with import partners to bring goods to the export market, the enterprise has continuously created many new product lines with the unique identity of Vietnamese culture. According to Ms. Son, in addition to the 3 markets mentioned above, the processed food lines of this enterprise are now present in more than 30 countries and territories around the world, contributing greatly to the company's annual revenue of 2,000 billion VND.
Similarly, Luong Gia Food Technology Joint Stock Company (Luong Gia Food) has now exported dried fruit products, cereals, etc. to about 20 countries around the world, with revenue growing steadily by 20% each year. According to Ms. Luong Thanh Thuy, General Director of Luong Gia Food, to conquer global consumers, the company's products must ensure quality, distinctive flavors, and must achieve BRC, FSSC, ISO, HACCP certifications, and appropriate certifications according to mandatory criteria of each region, such as FDA and Halal certifications.
Assessing the export activities of the food processing industry, Ms. Ly Kim Chi, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Food and Foodstuff Association (FFA), affirmed that the food processing industry is the only industry with a higher proportion of domestic export turnover than foreign export. Currently, domestic enterprises have taken full advantage of the unique characteristics of Vietnamese agricultural products and fruits to process them into foods that are unique to Vietnam.
Therefore, the position of processed food products with Vietnamese brands is increasingly important in the global supply chain as well as in the world market. Most enterprises under FFA have orders until the end of December 2024. Some units have received goods until the end of the first quarter of 2025. This has contributed to the sharp increase in export revenue of food products by 35% in the first 7 months of this year, reaching more than 3 billion USD, accounting for 15% of the total export turnover of Ho Chi Minh City.
Support funding for greening
Although currently, food processing enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City are growing well with positive revenue, the upcoming trend will have many changes that require response. Specifically, in the European market, from the beginning of 2025, imported products will be required to meet green criteria. Providing more information about this trend, Ms. Phan Thi Thang, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, said that currently, sustainable development trends in the food industry are constantly being updated and developed, including aspects of food safety, ensuring greenness, sustainability in the use of organic raw materials; reusing, recycling waste or surplus products from the production process to measures to limit the use of plastic and reduce packaging in general. Ms. Phan Thi Thang said that this is a challenge but at the same time will be an opportunity for Vietnam's food processing sector to change and develop.
From the business perspective, according to Ms. Ly Kim Chi, although knowing that greening is a mandatory requirement, many businesses do not know where to start "greening", or know but do not have enough finance to implement. "This is a difficult problem, especially for small and medium enterprises. Therefore, we recommend that the authorities and the banking sector provide capital support for businesses to invest in greening production. Specifically, give certain priority to export production businesses that invest in greening", Ms. Ly Kim Chi shared.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Business Association, Chairman of the Board of Members of the Ho Chi Minh City State Financial Investment Company (HFIC), affirmed that capital is a very important issue for greening. Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has been approved by the National Assembly in Resolution 98, from which Resolution 09 was issued on interest rate support for investment projects lent by HFIC in priority areas of socio-economic development in Ho Chi Minh City. In particular, the implementation of green transformation and digital transformation will be supported with 100% interest rate.
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hoa added that HFIC was assigned to be the focal point for lending and interest rate support according to Resolution 09. The unit has fully prepared and set up a working group to implement. Therefore, businesses need to proactively approach to receive early support for loan sources and loan interest rate support, creating internal strength for green transformation, improving competitiveness in the market. It is important to keep up with the green trade trend, avoiding the risk of market closure when official export markets apply green barriers to imported goods.
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Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/tiep-them-nguon-luc-cho-doanh-nghiep-xuat-khau-thuc-pham-post754109.html
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