The US is the second largest consumer after Japan to which Vietnam exports its plastic products. Though China-made plastic products seem to dominate the US market, there is still a great demand for Vietnamese plastic products in spite of rising prices.
According to a recent survey from the Vietnam Plastic Association, a SAMSONITE plastic suitcase made in China is sold at around US$100-200, while a high-quality Vietnamese suitcase can be sold at US$600 in the US market.
In the first eight months of the year, exports of Vietnamese plastic products to the US market hit US$45.5 million, an increase of 60 percent against 2005.
As Chinese plastic products face some import barriers in the US market, US importers plan to shift to importing Vietnamese plastic products.
Nguyen Dang Cuong, vice president of the Vietnam Plastic Association, said the US is a great market for Vietnamese plastic products.
However, there are great challenges for Vietnamese plastic products to penetrate the US market. US consumers are well-known for their high requirements on quality, design and services.
US importers have wide distribution networks which are divided into different levels from cities to states, federal and to globe. Therefore, they often have big orders with requirements on professional services and time delivery. This poses a great challenge for Vietnamese enterprises as its production scale and design are still limited.
Experts say that in order for Vietnam to compete with Chinese plastic products and increase market share in the US market, it is necessary for Vietnamese plastic product companies to enhance the quality of their products and provide professional services to customers.
Plastic enterprises need to put more investment into modernization of production chain, joint ventures to enhance production capacity, as well as competitive edge to meet demand for products and services, not only in the domestic market but also the US and other markets. By doing so, Vietnamese plastic enterprises will no longer miss opportunities to fulfil big contracts to the US market.
US consumers also require products of clear origin. Therefore, Vietnamese plastic products need to build a trademark or at least a “Made in Vietnam” trademark to make a foothold in the US market. In addition, Vietnamese plastic enterprises need to diversify its product designs to suit US consumers’ taste.
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