Nguyen Quan, Minster of Science and Technology, grants the Vietnamese High Quality Goods award 2014 to businesses. — Photo courtesy of the organiser

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — The Vietnamese High Quality Goods award will be conferred on 520 firms this year, 42 of them being first-time winners but an equal number winning it every year since its inception 19 years ago.

At a ceremony in HCM City next Thursday, the awardees will also include 339 firms who are winning for a third straight year.

The winners were selected from a list of 668 companies based on surveys of more than 20,000 households, individuals, and retailers at markets, supermarkets and shops around the country by the Business Association of High Quality Vietnamese Products, which gives the annual awards.

Most of the winners were makers of sauces, spices, electrical and household machines or construction materials, Hoang Trong of the association said.

They also had to meet certain criteria with regard to product quality and origin; comply with regulations on consumers and workers' rights, environmental protection and corporate social responsibility; and be innovative.

The survey found that most producers made significant improvement in product quality, with household utensil producers topping the list followed by firms in the embroidery, footwear, helmet, and office supplies sectors, Trong said.

It also found that Vietnamese goods had gradually won domestic consumers' trust, with 63 per cent of the surveyed people saying they "like" using Vietnamese goods compared to 11 per cent for Japanese goods, 6 per cent for US goods and 5 per cent for Thai goods.

But when it came to actual buying based on product origin, 80 per cent chose to buy made-in-Viet Nam goods.

The establishment of a single ASEAN market this year will mean both opportunities and challenges for Vietnamese firms, according to the association.

To compete with products from other member countries, they have no choice but to invest more in production technologies to produce quality products at competitive prices, it said.

Vu Kim Hanh, the association's chairwoman, said activities like trade fairs would be undertaken to support businesses, enabling them to develop both in the domestic and neighbouring markets and update their technologies and management.

The association also plans to strengthen communication activities to boost consumption of Vietnamese goods in the domestic market.

The awards ceremony will be held at the City Hall in District 3. — VNS