Category: Business

Hanoi: The prices of Vietnamese paddy and rice continued to increase last week, according to the the Vietnam Food Association (VFA).

Specifically, the average paddy price at fields rose by 214 VND to 8,000 VND (0.31 USD) per kilo, with the highest reported at 8,050 VND. The average price for paddy at warehouses expanded by 183 VND to 9,475 VND per kilo, the highest recorded at 9,650 VND.

Meanwhile, 5% broken rice was priced up to 14,200 VND per kilo; 15% broken rice, 13,950 VND; and 25% broken rice, 13,750 VND.

Premium white rice saw an increase of 35 VND per kilo to 14,010 VND.

For export, the price of 5% broken rice was 582 USD per tonne, higher than 579 USD of Thailand, and 581 USD of Pakistan.

Vietnam’s 25% broken rice was sold at 557 USD per tonne, as compared to 530 USD of Thai rice./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: Economic outlook, demographic transformation and changing consumer trends are among macro shifts reshaping Vietnam’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) landscape, according to marketing data and analytics company Kantar Worldpanel.

In its recent report on the Vietnam FMCG market outlook 2024, Kantar has a positive outlook for Vietnam’s economy, saying that despite obstacles and short-term headwinds, the long-term economic trajectory remains robust.

Nevertheless, rising costs have had and will continue to have an impact on shoppers’ budget management strategy. Value remains a key driver, with consumers making conscious choices about where to allocate their budgets.

‘While rising prices and economic uncertainty may present a picture of tightened belts across the board, the consumer landscape is nuanced.

‘Essential categories remain at the forefront of budgets, discretionary spending may see cuts, particularly in categories like eating out and entertainment.’

However, consumers have not entirely shut
down their wallets, according to the report. They are still willing to “splurge,” but their spending is driven by value.

Added values in health, experiences and convenience may prompt them to seek out products that justify their worth.

This presents a unique opportunity for FMCG brands to navigate challenging times and position themselves for growth.

The key lies in understanding how different consumer segments are adapting their behaviour and adopting strategies that cater to these shifts.

In addition, rising prices have led to a slowdown in in-home FMCG volume growth, even as average spending continues to rise. This raises the question: Is this increase driven solely by inflation, or are consumers changing their shopping baskets? Understanding the answer is crucial for developing effective marketing strategies.

Even in difficult times some brands thrive while others find growth elusive. While competitive pricing coupled with strategic promotions is a must, success in securing consumers’ share of wallet
hinges on brands’ ability to seize the opportunities to offer consumers smarter solutions and value-driven choices.

As for the impact of changing demographics on the FMCG market, the report says Vi?t Nam’s demographic structure is painting a new picture.

The once “golden population” is maturing, with an aging, urbanising population and smaller household sizes emerging.

This shift holds significant potential for FMCG businesses as demand for diverse products surges across different age clusters. Rising household incomes and decreasing household sizes, however, indicate a demand for evolving value proposition, where affordability might not be the sole driver.

Kantar suggested strategies for FMCG brands and manufacturers such as decoding drivers of changes in consumers’ shopping behaviour, mastering the multi-channel landscape, building a winning portfolio with consumer-centric innovation, and maximising promotions by focusing on quality over quantity.

Its data reveals that over half of FMCG brands struggle
d to keep pace with the competition in 2023, particularly within growing categories where approximately one-third of brands began to lag.

As competition intensifies in 2024, this highlights the urgent need for brands to identify their unique growth drivers to stay ahead of competition.

The FMCG retail landscape in Vietnam is shifting to more convenient and modern formats but not all modern trade channels can win, according to the company.

To succeed, brands need to understand the reason behind a shopper’s visit to each channel and adapt their approach accordingly.

With respect to building a winning portfolio with consumer-centric innovation, different strategies are required for different categories, depending on size, growth and competition landscape.

For FMCG manufacturers with a vast portfolio, identifying key categories to prioritise investments is crucial.

There are opportunities for rising FMCG categories as well as mature categories.

Finally, promotions are one of the most effective ways to driv
e immediate volume sales uplift though not all have the same impact.

By understanding the true effectiveness of different promotion types on brand growth, brands can harness the power of promotions to not only drive impact on revenue but also build brand loyalty./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Rome: Ambassador to Italy Duong Hai Hung has congratulated Vietnamese enterprises – the Ho Chi Minh City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC) and the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCM City (HAWA) – for their initial success in showcasing Vietnamese products in Milan Design Week in Italy – a design and brand arena of furniture businesses around the world.

While visiting the Vietnam pavilion at the event on April 18, the diplomat encouraged enterprises to focus on enhancing their competitiveness through good cooperation with design buyers in Italy and Europe, thus penetrating deeper into the European market, as well as other markets.

The Vietnamese wood industry needs substantial and systematic investment to enter and dominate higher market segments, he stressed.

The pavilion opens to visitors from April 16 – 21. Covering a total area of 360 sq.m, it is showcasing outstanding furniture and handicraft products from 35 Vietnamese enterprises.

Vietnam is renowned for its export of furni
ture, ranking sixth in the world. The debut at the Milan Design Week is a significant affirmation of the creative values of Vietnamese furniture and handicraft industry on the international stage, demonstrating its strength and potential for strong development./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: Vietnam has for the first time surpassed India and Thailand to become the largest rice exporter to Singapore by shipping 36.15 million SGD (26.55 million USD) worth of rice in the first three months of this year, an increase of 80.46% over the same period in 2023, winning 32.03% of the market share, according to the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore.

Vietnam was followed by Thailand with an export value of 33.63 million SGD, while India came third with 33.16 million SGD.

The decline in export value of regular brown rice and white rice was offset by the strong increase of sticky rice, milled or peeled fragrant rice and broken rice with turnovers of 3.79 million SGD, 18.06 million SGD and 575,000 SGD, respectively.

Particularly, besides Vietnam’s traditional strong product of white rice, the turnovers of two other product groups – sticky rice and milled or peeled fragrant rice – also rose to dominate the majority of the market share in Singapore, reaching 80.08% and 73.33% respectively. This was the m
ain factor that helps Vietnam surpass Thailand and India to become the country with the largest rice market share in Singapore, the office asserted.

According to the office, Thailand, India, and Japan have been major competitors of Vietnam in Singapore. India’s ban of rice export from July 20, 2023, has created good conditions for Vietnam to increase market share in Singapore.

However, the office advised Vietnamese rice exporters to continue improving their competitiveness and enhancing the quality of rice.

The office will organise more exhibitions to increase the presence of Vietnamese rice in this potential market.

The office cited data from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) of Singapore as showing that Singapore imported nearly 112.9 million SGD worth of rice in the first three months of this year, up 23.86% year on year.

In order to increase market share and sustainably maintain its top position, according to the office, all ministries, sectors, localities, associations, and bu
sinesses should join hands together in strengthening promotion of Vietnamese rice products and trademarks.

Alongside, the signing of a memorandum of understanding in rice trading between Vietnam and Singapore will also be an effective tool for Vietnam to maintain its position of No.1 rice supplier in Singapore, it added./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Moscow: The Vietnamese Embassy in Russia organised a seminar on April 19 on prospects for Vietnam-Russia digital economic cooperation, attracting over 100 delegates representing ministries, sectors, research institutes, and business associations of the two countries.

The function focused on opportunities and solutions to further promote cooperation between the two nations in this promising field.

In recent years, Vietnam’s digital economy has experienced remarkable development. According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, the proportion of the digital economy in Vietnam’s GDP reached 16.5% in 2023, with an average annual growth rate of 20%, which is three times the GDP growth rate.

According to assessments from international organisations, the scale of Vietnam’s Internet economy in 2023 reached approximately 30 billion USD, up 19% compared to the figure in 2022. Vietnamese digital technology companies have also been gradually strengthening their international cooperation efforts. Last year,
Vietnam had over 1,500 digital technology enterprises with revenue from foreign markets totaling an estimated 7.5 billion USD, up 4% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the strongest growth in Russia’s Internet economy is observed in the e-commerce sector, with total revenue reaching 15.4 trillion rubles (over 164 billion USD) in 2023. Russia also leads in the field of smart cities and e-government, with cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg being at the forefront of IT application worldwide.

Delegates said that the current context presents tremendous opportunities for cooperation between the two countries in general and between their respective businesses in particular. Several digital economic cooperation projects are already underway between Vietnam and Russia, particularly in such areas as cybersecurity, smart cities, digital banking, and digital business solutions.

In addition to the aforementioned projects, participants also highlighted numerous other promising areas for digital economic cooperation, such as fi
nance, health care, agriculture, transportation, energy, environment, and manufacturing.

They put forward recommendations and solutions to further expand cooperation in the digital economy sector from the perspectives of policymakers, researchers, and businesses, including intensifying the trade promotion in information technology products of the two countries, and boosting collaboration in researching and developing digital platforms and products.

Ambassador Dang Minh Khoi emphasised the significance of the event, saying Russia’s experiences in developing its digital ruble is highly beneficial, expressing Vietnam’s interest in participating in the testing process of Russia’s digital ruble by the Central Bank of Russia.

Delegates agreed that if utilised effectively, this could be a significant driver for economic cooperation between the two countries in the coming time./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam is an attractive choice for businesses who are looking for outsource solutions, given its affordable workforce, highly skilled human resources and the constantly developing infrastructure of information technology and the telecommunications industry, said real estate consultancy firm Knight Frank in its report Asia-Pacific Horizon: Harnessing the Potential of Offshoring.

The report studies the essential factors that define the region’s appeal as the best location for offshore services and sheds light on the significant changes in the industry.

Amid a challenging business environment that saw a reduction in sentiment among corporate real estate leaders, the Asia-Pacific offshoring market is forecast to more than double to 185.1 billion USD by 2032.

In the global context, the market is forecast to grow to 544.8 billion USD in 2032, reflecting an 8.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Although North America will continue to retain its dominant market share, Asia-Pacific is expected to record the hi
ghest CAGR globally at 10.2%.

According to the Knight Frank’s report, global companies increasingly seek cost-effective solutions to minimise expenses. A growing number are now looking towards offshoring functions as a strategic avenue. Within the Asian-Pacific region, four markets – India, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam- offer the best offshoring locations around the world.

For Vietnam, the offshoring market revenue is expected to reach 840 million USD with a 2024-2028, CARG of 8.78%, the report said, citing statistics of Statista. The country is ranked the 7th best global outsourcing location. The presence of major technology firms positions the country as a global digital hub.

Vietnam is a popular choice in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), especially in the information technology industry, with skilled human resources just after India. Vietnam also offers the highest value for business costs, specifically in terms of labour, together with a bright outlook for tenants when office rent, which ca
n account for 10% to 15% of operating costs, is decreasing. It is expected that office rents in major cities in India will be higher than rents in Ho Chi Minh City in the next three years. With abundant supply from new and upcoming office building projects in Thu Thiem new urban area in Thu Duc City, rents are expected to decrease by more than 20% by 2026.

Analysing the trends and main factors developing the outsourcing market, Knight Frank experts said that Vietnam’s affordable labour force is the main factor to attract outsourcing activities. A notable trend in the offshore market in Vietnam is the shift toward high-value services such as software programming or research and development.

On the other hand, Vietnam has human resources with high skills and foreign language proficiency. Consulting firm A.T. Kearney ranks Vietnam seventh in the Global Service Location Index (GSLI) for top outsourcing destinations.

According to Knight Frank, another notable point is that Vietnam’s information technology and t
elecommunications industry infrastructure is constantly developing. The Vietnamese government has been increasing investment to improve internet speed, build data centres and technology infrastructure, and ensure a high-speed, reliable communication network to serve offshore activities./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency