Potential market
In 2024, the Government targets export growth rate of at least 6% compared to 2023 in context that market situation is forecast to remain difficult. To achieve the goal, diversifying and expanding markets, focusing on large markets is method that has been chosen by many enterprises.
Mr. Nguyen Lam Vien - Chairman of Board of Directors of Vinamit Joint Stock Company said that after many years of outreach, enterprises has developed its market share in Chinese market. According to Mr. Vien, with more than 1.4 billion people, Chinese market has good purchasing power and consumers in this country are quite familiar with Vietnamese goods. Currently, export-import turnover of Vietnam and China reaches over 170 billion USD. Among them, Chinese people's favorite products that Vietnam can provide are fresh, dried and processed fruits... The growth potential for these industries is forecast to increase.
Data from General Department of Customs shows that in the first quarter of 2024, China is still Vietnam's largest import market with an estimated turnover of 29.4 billion USD, an increase of 24.4% over the same period last year (same period in 2023, down 14.6%).
“This is also a reason why China opened fences for Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia... to diversify sources of imported fruits. Therefore, Vietnamese enterprises, especially agricultural and fruit enterprises, need to pay attention to be able to participate in the Chinese market", Mr. Nguyen Lam Vien emphasized.
With Indian market, Mr. Thai Nhu Hiep - Director of Vinh Hiep Company said that in 2023, the enterprises has successfully brought L'amant Café products to two most populous and potential markets in the world, China and India. To proactively source quality goods for export, Vinh Hiep has linked production on an area of 25,000 hectares with an output of about 75,000 tonnes/year, with the remaining about 85,000 tonnes purchased from enterprises and agents. .To date, the company has expanded its export market to more than 40 countries around the world.
Assessing potential of Indian market, Mr. Bui Trung Thuong - Commercial Counselor, Vietnam Trade Office in India - said that growth potential for Vietnam's export of goods to India is still very large and waiting for enterprises to explore. According to Mr. Thuong, by 2023 Vietnam's export turnover to India reached 8.5 billion USD, growing 6.8% compared to 2022. This is one of the few markets to achieve positive growth. However, with a market of 1.4 billion people like India, the above level of export turnover is said to still be quite modest and there is still a lot of room for Vietnamese enterprises to explore and penetrate deeply.
Typically with agricultural products industry, India currently has potential to consume a variety of agricultural products and processed foods from Vietnam such as: Fruits, coffee, tea, pepper, cashew nuts, cinnamon, anise, cardamom, rubber, candy, catfish, basa fish, grain products…but the output and import turnover of these products of Vietnam from India are still modest. Therefore, Vietnamese businesses are still expected to be able to bring larger export turnover in this market.
Enhance trade promotion
Export growth to major markets is a bright spot in the country's exports in context of a decline in exports to most major markets. By 2024 and the following years, China and India will continue to be potential markets and many open opportunities for Vietnamese agricultural products to increase market share and export value. With advantage of geographical proximity, convenient trade and understanding of consumer tastes, many agricultural product groups in our country can score points in this billion-people market. However, challenge for domestic businesses is that this market is increasingly demanding with increasingly high requirements for quality of agricultural products imported from Vietnam.
Economic expert Nguyen Phi Van, President of Retail & Franchise Asia, said that each market will have its own characteristics. Therefore, when approaching each market, enterprises need to clearly understand which state, rural or urban areas and which customer group they are going into, because differences between localities and customer groups are very large. Another point to note when approaching Indian market is fierce price competition. Additionally, Indian consumers have a habit of optimizing products and reusing products. For example, when buying a bottle of water, canned food, etc., they are interested in taking advantage of bottles and cans to store other items.
With Indian market, according to Mr. Bui Trung Thuong, exporting to Indian market is not easy because in context of India's export difficulties, this market will also find ways to protect domestic market, creating jobs for enterprises and workers. Therefore, to penetrate deeper into this market, trade promotion work will have to be improved and combine diverse forms.
Specifically, Trade Office encourages Vietnamese enterprises to export to India to create an ecosystem in Indian market. In addition, enterprises that want to conquer billion-people market also need to pay attention to explosion of online store models on multinational e-commerce platforms and cross-border social network platforms. Current trend is shoppertainment, this is trend of both shopping and entertainment.
Although currently, India's e-commerce is about 10 years behind Vietnam's. However, this gap will be erased very quickly, so it is very appropriate for enterprises to approach the market at this time.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn