A meeting being held to introduce this year’s HCM City Export Fair and other key activities of the city industry and trade sector in HCM City on May 3. — VNS Photo

HCM CITY — The annual HCM City Export Fair to be held in HCM City from May 8 to 11 is expected to help Vietnamese firms get new export orders and customers, the city Department of Industry and Trade has said.

To be held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre, the fair will have 450 booths, double last year’s number, showcasing the country’s major export items such as food and beverages, farm produce and fisheries, furniture, handicrafts, textiles and garments, footwear, handbags, rubber, plastics, and electronics besides supporting services.

Việt Nam's reputable export firms will be in attendance.

Organised by the department, the event is expected to attract 20,000 visitors and buyers from major markets such as the US, Europe, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, and South Korea, and e-commerce platforms.

It will feature activities like a forum to promote linkages towards green exports and business matching programmes that will bring together local firms and foreign retail chains such as Central Retail, MM Mega Market, Amazon, and Alibaba.

Nguyễn Nguyên Phương, the department’s deputy director, said the fair comes amid a revival in demand in many markets.

It would also help local manufacturing and export firms study market demand and trends to improve their products and technology, participate in the global production, supply and distribution chains and build strategic relationships with foreign distribution systems in both traditional and e-commerce channels, he added.

The organiser plans to digitise the fair by scanning it entirely using 3D scan technology to turn it into a 365-day virtual exhibition on Hopefair (https://hopefair.com), enabling exhibitors and potential buyers to interact 24/7.

The fair, held last year for the first time, was successful, attracting 9,244 visitors, including 306 foreign delegations from countries and territories such as the US, UK, India, Cambodia, South Korea, mainland China, Malaysia, Russia, Taiwan (China), and Australia, and seeing many contracts and MoUs signed.

Nguyễn Hoài Bảo, deputy chairman of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCM City, and vice president of Scancia Pacific Co., Ltd, said exports of wood and wooden products have recovered after a sharp drop last year.

Buyers in major markets such as the US, China, South Korea and Japan have run out of inventories and are placing orders again, he said.

Many woodworking firms have got orders but geopolitical tensions and trade barriers set by importing countries have caused difficulties for exports. He suggested firms to seek new export markets such as the Middle East, Australia and Canada.

By participating in the fair, his company and others hope to seek opportunities for expanding into new markets, he added. — VNS