Part 3: Binh Duong enterprises outreach to the region

Update: 08-08-2017 | 16:29:01

Part 2: A place of ASEAN project attraction

The formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) has helped many Vietnamese enterprises to take advantage of the opportunity to boost their exports to member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Over the past few years, Binh Duong has reached out to the ASEAN region, bringing domestic goods to this market.

Proactive participation

From the previous years, enterprises of Binh Duong Mechanical and Electrical Association have proactively participated into trade fairs and trade promotion in Myanmar to find ways to dominate this market. Among them are Sang Ban Mai Joint Stock Company (Ben Cat Town) and Nghe Nang JSC (Thuan An Town). Modern technology and competitive goods have been as good as European and Japanese companies, but prices are competitive, helping Sang Ban Mai and Nghe Nang have win big contracts and the trust of customers in this market.

In 2015, Sang Ban Mai set up a subsidiary in Cambodia and continued to win big in this market. Sang Ban Mai is the first Vietnamese company to successfully build a 2,500 KVA generator in accordance with European standards, which is 30% cheaper than imported goods. After installing and successfully operating 2,500 KVA generators in the Binh Duong Province Administration Center, the company continues to win the bid to install large capacity generators for many enterprises and large administrative centers in the whole province and the nation. In addition, the company is also constantly seeking new markets overseas and is determined to fulfill the ambition of exporting generators to ASEAN nations.

Various enterprises in Binh Duong Province have proactively dominated markets in ASEAN. In this photo: Sang Ban Mai JSC exports 2,500KVA generator to a Cambodian partner. Photo: X. Thi

In order to successfully conquer the ASEAN markets, in recent years, Sang Ban Mai has effectively implemented researching and investing strategies in industrial products so that it can compete well in Vietnam and in the region. Each year, the company ships more than 300 generators with a capacity of 10KVA to 2,500KVA. Sang Ban Mai is the first unit in ASEAN to meet the international standard of ISO 9001: 2015 in the field of manufacturing and assembling generators.

Not until now but before the AEC formed, many enterprises in the province have successfully penetrated the ASEAN markets, including Minh Long I. For years, Minh Long I has been active in marketing, promotion and sales to Thailand. Mr. Ly Huy Sang, the General Director of Minh Long I Ceramic Company, said that in the past time, Minh Long's domestic market share has been accounted for 85% and exportation 15%. Minh Long's policy in the future is to balance exportation and domestic market sales, specifically in 2016-2017 to increase the market share of 30-40%. Thailand has been a very potential market thanks to similarities of culinary cultures of Thai and Vietnamese; thus, if Minh Long's products are suitable for the Vietnamese market, they should, of course, be suitable for the Thai market.

"Thai pay much attention to quality not price. I am very confident in the market with high quality requirements. Through the exchange, nowadays trade, most customers are surprised as the prices of Minh Long ceramic items are much cheaper from their expectation of current market. Some guests have also asked for purchase of our goods on display," said Sang.

Venturing to integration

Five years ago, UniExport Import and Export Company (Bac Tan Uyen), specializing in pressed wood products and clean energy stone of low emissions to the environment, decided to conquer the ASEAN markets through a partner from Singapore, while the traditional markets of this company have been in Japan and Korea. In 2016, the total sales of the company reached 60 million USD, of which the Japanese and Korean markets were accounted for 90%, the ASEAN market 7%, and the rest was the US market.

UniExport's 2-year goal was to achieve sales of over 100 million of USD. To do so, the company would increase its presence in the ASEAN market, although demands in this market have been limited when compared to traditional markets. The reason was that ASEAN has many pluses for this company.

"In addition to the exported products, it is tax-free and the company also wants to take advantage of logistics costs and find resources in Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar," said Nguyen Duc Hau, the Managing Director of UniExport.

Ms. Tran Thi My Van, a communication representative of Acecook Vietnam Joint Stock Company, said in parallel with serving the domestic market, Acecook products have currently exported to 47 countries and territories around the world. Taking advantage of AEC, Acecook Vietnam is moving towards exporting to ASEAN countries in the near future. Although it would be very difficult in this market, Acecook has still targeted for being on the shelves of most countries in the region.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, ASEAN has been one of the key markets for Vietnamese products over the past years. With the establishment of AEC, tariff barriers in ASEAN have been lifted. Currently, the rate of tariff elimination in ASEAN-6 countries is 98%; of Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar is 91%; the rate is projected to achieve 98% by 2018. Thanks to that, enterprises will enjoy the positive factors by increasing the volume of trade exchange, improving competitiveness for exports and export turnover to expand market share.

The tax reduction opportunity is offered commodities domestically produced in ASEAN. In addition to crude oil and rice, many other commodities are also gaining market share and are favored by ASEAN consumers such as garments, footwear, seafood, coffee, rubber, electrical products. In particular, in the past seven months, the volume of goods exported to ASEAN market has reached more than 5 billion USD, which is 15.9% over the same period in 2016.

It can be said that, along with the continuous growth of Binh Duong business community in particular and Vietnam in general, the domestic goods spread to the region, the country in the region is not far away, but now it is the domestic enterprises gaining the opportunity to show their skills in the ASEAN markets.

Reported by Khanh Vinh – Translated by Vi Bao

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Part 3: Binh Duong enterprises outreach to the region

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