Trade Attache Phạm Khắc Tuyên (left) visits companies stalls with Deputy Director of Đà Nẵng Industry and Trade Department Đỗ thị Quỳnh Trâm before the opening. VNS PhotosMỹ Hà

SEOUL — Vietnamese businesses are gearing up for fresh opportunities as the ASEAN–RoK Trade Fair opens today, underscoring deepening economic ties between the ten Southeast Asian nations and the Republic of Korea.

“We have a plant with capacity of producing 1.5 tonnes of products per day. We look for potential wholesale clients as we know Korean customers like coconut crackers,” Lưu Thị Thu, director of Quý Thu company specialising in coconut-based crackers, told Việt Nam News,

“We have had traditional crackers that have been selling well. Now we’ve added two new flavours, sweet potatoes and black sesame, we hope to hear reviews from our clients.”

The ASEAN Trade Fair concludes ASEAN Week 2025, a series of activities facilitated by the ASEAN–Korea Centre.

Lưu thị Thu (right) gets her coconut based snacks ready for the Fair. VNS Photo Mỹ Hà

“We bring nine companies to the ASEAN Trade Fair in marine products, staple food, aroma and spices," said Đỗ Thị Quỳnh Trâm, Deputy Director of the city’s Department of Industry and Trade, who is leading a group of nine companies from Đà Nẵng Province.

“We bring here the products that fit Korean taste. And we have seen very active meetings and active B-to-B talks that have already resulted in contracts worth VNĐ3 billion (US$110,000). More contracts are to be negotiated in the next two days here at the Trade Fair.”

Companies selling Vietnamese agricultural products, including coffee and processed fruit such as coconut and pomelo, are looking to cater to Korean consumers as well as serve the needs of the Vietnamese community in Korea, according to Trâm.

NPI, an international coffee producer based in Đà Nẵng, has already exported to the United States and to neighbouring ASEAN countries such as Cambodia and the Philippines, as well as Switzerland.

“We specialise in roasting and processing coffee beans. This time we enter Korean market, we hope to find wholesalers or purchasers to enter Korean supermarkets or food chains. We bring our special products which is coffee with coconut flavour to add to the variety of Vietnamese coffee in Korea,” said Nguyễn Ninh Trường of NPI Coffee.

​​​Nguyễn thị Thanh Tâm, founder and director of Nhiên Tâm company, discusses with a Korean prospective buyer of her products from young pomelo fruit. VNS Photo Mỹ Hà

Trường added that NPI has partnered with Thái Đặng, who opened the HaiSous restaurant in the arty, multicultural Pilsen District in the United States, to promote NPI coffee in the country. He said that within a year, Đặng’s HaiSous restaurant had received a Bib Gourmand from the Michelin Guide and reached the semi-final of the James Beard Best New Restaurant Award, often referred to as the 'Oscars of food.'

Next to the NPI stall is the Nhiên Tâm company, which specialises in healthy snacks and herbal tea made from young pomelo fruit. Nguyễn Thị Thanh Tâm has already held discussions with a Korean client representing local companies to test her products.

Among the 11 companies, the largest group from any single country’s team at the ASEAN Trade Fair, one firm did not secure a visa to attend, while another sent only its products for Korean representatives to promote rice-based goods, including instant phở packages. VNS