Korean goods weaving their way through Vietnam’s market
Following an invasion of Korean barbecue restaurants, Korean food products have been entering the Vietnamese market through retail channels.
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Wrapped in beautiful carton boxes, the pears imported from the Republic of Korea (ROK) are sold at VND250,000 per kilo, affordable only to high-income earners. However, the products still sell very well in large cities.
Nguyen Thi Van from Trung Van residential quarter in Hanoi said she likes the goods because she admires Korean culture and believes Korean goods have high quality.
“Japanese goods are the best, but Korean goods are also okay, while the prices are better than other imports,” she explained.
Van said she and the other housewives in the residential quarter now use more products from the ROK. In the past, she bought ginseng, but now, she buys everything, from instant noodles to cosmetics to electric cookers.
There are many consumers like Van. Only a few shops distributed Korean goods in Trung Hoa – Nhan Chinh and My Dinh urban areas in the past, but now there are far more.
Thu Hong, a saleswoman at a convenience store in Ha Dong district, said young people like Korean noodles very much.
“They like watching Korean dramas and they want to try some kinds of Korean noodles,” Hong said, adding that Korean goods, together with Japanese and Thai goods, offer more choices to consumers, especially young consumers in urban areas.
An analyst said that Korean manufacturers were shifting their focus from the Chinese market to Vietnamese.
The Shinsegae Group has put its first Emart supermarket in Vietnam into operation with the investment capital of US$60 million. Lotte has been expanding its operation and presence in Vietnam, having spent US$650 million to open 12 supermarkets in Vietnam, of which Lotte Mart Go Vap alone is capitalized at US$45 million.
At Vietfood & Beverage-ProPack, 33 out of 180 enterprises displaying their products there were from the ROK. The ROK was one of the countries with highest numbers of enterprises participating in the trade fair.
They brought a wide range of products to introduce to Vietnamese consumers, from high-value products such as ginseng and lingzhi mushroom to sweets, soap, drinks and dairy products.
Korean businesses are attracted by the 90 million Vietnamese consumers and the improved income per capita, which increased by 6.81% in the third quarter of 2015.
According to Le An Hai, deputy director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Asia Pacific Department, the food and beverage industries have big development potential in Vietnam.
