HÀ NỘI — With an increase of 10 to 12 per cent annually in wine consumption in the Vietnamese market, it is an appropriate time to promote the export of Argentina’s wine to this Southeast Asia country.

The statement was made by Noris Rivarola, co-ordinator of PRO Mendoza, a Commercial Promotion Agency of Mendoza Province in Argentina, at a business to business (B2B) forum held in Hà Nội on Thursday.

The conference was organised by the Argentine Embassy in Việt Nam in co-operation with PRO Mendoza to host delegates from Mendoza, in Việt Nam to promote wine trade and seek potential importers.

Through this event, Vietnamese businesses can meet and negotiate directly with Argentinean partners about importing wine products from Mendoza to Việt Nam.

“Việt Nam is a potential market for wine promotion thanks to its growing economy, big population and good food – a significant factor for drinking wine,” Hugo Stabio, Commercial Director of Argentina’s wine producer Alto Cedro, told Việt Nam News.

According to Hoàng Lê Giang, general director of Việt Nam’s wine importer SSP Group, the wines of Argentina are not as popular in the Vietnamese market as wine from other countries such as Chile, France, Spain and Italy because Argentina’s wines have not been advertised in the country.

However, Giang revealed his company is going to import a line of Argentinean wine into Việt Nam, and he hoped to find an appropriate partner through the business forum.

Argentina is currently the second biggest trade partner of Việt Nam in Latin America, while Việt Nam is the fifth trade partner of Argentina in the global market. 

Last year, bilateral trade between Argentina and Việt Nam reached more than US$3 billion, with Argentina’s exports to Việt Nam reaching $2.5 billion.

Argentina mainly exported animal feed, fur products and cereals to Việt Nam and imported from the Southeast Asia nation some products such as garments, footwear, electronic goods, wood, rubber and coffee.

In the first nine months of 2018, two-way trade turnover hit approximately $2.1 billion. The two countries target expanding the variety of export products from both sides, focusing on fruits in the upcoming time, Carmen Rivero, Secretary of Argentina’s Embassy in Việt Nam, told Việt Nam News. — VNS