Wholesale supermarket MM Mega Market Vietnam has exported over 100 tonnes of Vietnamese agricultural products to Thailand this month for sale through its sister company, Big C, reports Vietnamplus.com.
Some 700 Big C stores will sell the Vietnamese produce, which includes mainly dragonfruit, but also yellow sweet potato, purple sweet potato, dried fruit and rice paper, according to the report.
The move follows joint efforts by MM Mega Market Vietnam and farmers in Lam Dong and Binh Thuan provinces to meet Big C’s quality requirements, the report said. Produce exports are slated to continue on a monthly basis.
Phidsanu Pongwatana, managing director of MM Mega Market Vietnam, told the publication: “As soon as we got the export licence, we moved quickly to understand the needs of our business partners in Thailand and look for domestic goods with a competitive edge that we can supply.
“This does not only offer a richly diversified and competitive source of supply to the Big C system in Thailand, but can also help Vietnamese farmers bring their quality agricultural products to other countries in the region.”
Pongwatana said the potential for Vietnamese exports was great thanks to Big C's 700-plus mall and supermarket distribution network.
In a separate development, Vietnamese firms promoted their produce in Japan at the 10th Vietnam festival in Tokyo over the weekend (19-20 May).
Ta Duc Minh, trade counsellor and head of the Vietnamese Embassy’s Trade Office, said Vietnam shipped dragon fruit, mango and banana to Japan, with all of the fruits meeting Japanese food safety requirements.
Last year, Vietnam exported 2,500 - 3,000 tonnes of banana and over 1,500 tonnes of dragon fruits to Japan, Minh said.
Hidekatsu Ishikawa, president of Vient Co Ltd, said in 2017, his company imported an average of about 200 containers of fruits from Vietnam worth up to Y500m (US$4.6m) to Japan, adding that Vient wants to introduce other high-quality fruits of Vietnam to Japan’s consumers.
He pointed out that Vietnam should work to improve logistics services to reduce transportation time.
The two countries are negotiating Vietnamese lychee exports to Japan, the report said.
