VietNamNet Bridge – Great opportunities have come to Vietnamese producers to boost the exports to the US, when the US consumers have got tired of Chinese goods after the product quality scandals.

Tran Viet Tien, Director of the Gia Long Fine Arts JSC, when visiting a supermarket during his business trip to the US, saw a boy embracing a toy – a superman. The boy seemed to be very satisfied with the toy he found. But later, when he was told by the father to look at the bar codes to find the origin country, he turned disheartened. He decided to put the superman back on the shelf and took another superman, made in Vietnam.

The father of the boy explained to Tien that he asks the son not to play Chinese toys, because this could harm him. The man also said that the US consumers now dislike made-in-China goods.

Chinese goods refused in the US

After the scandals recently relating to the quality of Chinese goods which were discovered as containing toxicity, a wave of boycotting Chinese goods has been raised in the US and Europe.

Ngoc, a journalist and tourist, said she could see clearly that US consumers have turned their backs to Chinese products. Especially, the China Towns in the US have become deserted with few visitors.

Ngoc said China Town in New York is still crowded, but consumers keep hesitant to buy Chinese goods. At the food stalls, there were dried shrimp from Vietnam, Japan and Taiwan available, while there was no Chinese shrimp. In some other states in the US, the percentage of Vietnamese was higher than the Chinese.

Some people in Oklahoma and Massachusetts said that 70 percent of products available there are from Vietnam, while the remaining from China. Especially, Chinese goods have been introduced as Vietnamese products, because Vietnamese products are more favored. Even the Chinese enterprises in the US also give Vietnamese labels to their products to boost sales, or give Vietnamese names to their companies.

The golden opportunities for Vietnamese

Tien, during his business trip to the US, was told that the US companies have been seeking other supply sources to replace Chinese goods.

Tien himself has got some invitations for cooperation from the US and European partners. In the past, the partners imported goods mostly from China to sell in the US. However, they now want to buy Vietnamese goods.

The partners said they would be responsible for the distribution and cover marketing and distribution costs, while Gia Long would have to pay for the storage fee, transport and be responsible for providing goods.

In the past, Gia Long regularly attended trade fairs to seek clients. Its products were exported directly to clients, while its brand had not been well known in the market. If the cooperation is made, Gia Long would not have to bear big expenses, but it would still can popularize its brand and sell products.

In mid-May, a senior executive of Kroger, the second biggest retailer in the US, came to Vietnam to seek supply sources. Tim Kelbel, Vice President of Kroger, said that most of the products in Vietnam, from food, seafood, rice, pepper, cashew nuts, packed vegetables, wooden furniture to clothes, gloves could be distributed through Kroger network.

NCDT