EXPORTWAY: F&B SECTOR PRESENTATION

On October 6th, Mr. Pham Hoang Hai – Executive Director of ICHAM hosted Livestream on the Exportways Project Facebook Page to share information on Vietnamese F&B sector.

With a population of almost 97 million, Vietnam is a developing economic with growth rate of 5-7% yearly on average. However, due to Covid-19 pandemic, the national growth of 2020 was only 2.15% with an inflation of 2.59%, an impressive figure, still, being one of the few countries in the world to maintain a positive growth in this year.

Referring directly to the Italian companies, Hai gave out some advices to how to properly do business in Vietnam. First of all, he mentioned the ratification of the EVFTA on 01/08/2020, thanks to which the majority of goods will gradually see their tariffs zeroes. Talking about the F&B sector, he mentioned the value of Italian exports to Vietnam for this sector: EUR 100 million. Experts expected that in a couple of years it would reach almost EUR 500 millions, twice as double its original value, thanks to the EVFTA. Hai mentioned the protection of the geographical indication of several Italian goods of which consists both the food and the beverages sides, etc.

On exports of Italian goods in 2019 to Vietnam for the F&B sector: 42% are alcoholic beverages, 35% meat goods, 15% cereals and pasta, 51% coffee and tea, 4% dairy products. He mentioned that surveys reveal that cooking Italian food at home happens a couple of times per month, and going to a foreign restaurant happens almost twice a week for Vietnamese families.