Firms to boost exports to Taiwan

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade Taiwan is a promising market.

Besides, demand from around 300,000 Vietnamese living on the island also contributes to boosting trade with it.

Tran Nhat Trung, general secretary of the HCM City Food and Foodstuff Association, said there was still much potential for exports, especially of agro-forestry and fishery products.

But experts said Taiwan had strict regulations related to food safety and hygiene and quarantine of agro-forestry and fishery imports.

They were also regularly revised and modified, causing difficulties for Viet Nam’s agricultural exports, they said.

Taiwanese usually do not store food, so goods should be packed in compact sizes with nice designs and full information about them and instruction for use, according to the experts.

With their rising income, Taiwanese tend to try new products, and so enterprises taking their goods there need to advertise and market and provide information about them.

Taiwanese consumers rarely worry about prices once a product has sufficient information and gains their trust.

Nguyen The Hung, deputy director of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s HCM City office, said besides ensuring product quality Vietnamese exporters also needed to provide all documents and certificates related to their products, including certificate of origin, quarantine certificate and results of testing for residual chemicals in agricultural products.

To penetrate the Taiwan market, businesses should establish relationships with importers to bring goods into supermarkets, the main distribution system there, he added.

An official from the Taiwan External Trade Development Council said every year Taiwan organises major exhibitions such as the Taipei International Food Show where Vietnamese enterprises could study the market as well as promote their products.

With bilateral trade growing in recent years, both Viet Nam and Taiwan rank in each other’s top 10 trade partners.

Viet Nam exports mobile phones and parts, apparel and aquatic products to Taiwan and buys machinery, equipment and accessories.