Typical specialties from the mountainous northwest region are on display at the Week of Exhibiting Vietnamese Enterprises’ Goods, which is being held at AEON - Tân Phú Celadon in HCM City until November 8. — VNS Photo

HCM CITY — A wide range of Vietnamese products such as packaged foods, processed and agricultural products are on display at the Week of Exhibiting Vietnamese Enterprises’ Goods that opened at AEON - Tân Phú Celadon in HCM City on November 4.

To join the exhibition, all three products had to pass AEON Vietnam’s strict assessment and testing process.

Nguyễn Hữu Vương, a distribution representative in the south for Séng Cù Mường Vi rice, Núi Đá vermicelli and Hoàng Liên honey, said that typical specialties from the mountainous northwest region not only had to meet food safety and hygiene standards but also provide quality certificates and documents required by AEON.

The products also had to have traceability stamps and an OCOP (One commune-One product) certification of four stars or above to be selected by AEON Vietnam to participate in the exhibition.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Nguyễn Hữu Tín, director of the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of HCM City (ITPC), said the exhibition’s organising committee had received registrations from more than 200 businesses across the country, and 35 were selected.

“This is the third year in a row that ITPC has cooperated with AEON, one of the oldest retailers in Japan, to organise the event to support Vietnamese businesses to promote and bring their products into the AEON global retail system.”

Nishitohge Yasuo, general director of AEON Vietnam, said:  "One of the important strategies of AEON Vietnam is to expand the scale in consumption of Vietnamese products. We always try to bring domestically made products to consumers through AEON Vietnam's general merchandise store and supermarket chain in the Vietnamese market. In addition, we also want to promote export of Vietnamese products.

“To achieve that goal, we need cooperation and support from local suppliers. AEON's business philosophy is to always provide products that meet the needs of our customers at reasonable prices. So with the cooperation of retailers and suppliers, I hope we will grow together and continue to supply valuable products to consumers."

Also within the framework of the exhibition week, a conference that seeks to enable Vietnamese firms to bring their products to AEON’s general department stores and supermarkets globally was organised with the participation of more than 150 suppliers.

The event hopes to open up many opportunities for local businesses to find more distributors and expand their markets both in and outside the country.

At the conference, Vietnamese firms also received consultations on technical standards and product quality from AEON TOPVALU representatives to help their products enter AEON’s global general merchandise store and supermarket chain.

Over the past five years, Vietnamese goods exported via AEON to Japan reached a total of more than US$1.4 billion, an increase of over 120 per cent per year on average.

A variety of Vietnamese products are exported through the AEON system, with garments and footwear (T-shirts, shirts, and shoes) accounting for about 59 per cent, and food products and fruit (coffee, dragon fruit, banana, mango and others) accounting for about 34.6 per cent.

In addition, about 1,200 tonnes of seafood (basa fish and shrimp) were exported to Japan in 2019 via AEON. Most recently, the first five tonnes of fresh Vietnamese lychees were exported to Japan and sold at AEON's store system there in June.

Organised by ITPC in collaboration with AEON Việt Nam Co., Ltd and AEON TOPVALU Việt Nam, the exhibition week will run until November 8. — VNS