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| Visitors examine a new machine at the 15th Vietnam International Plastic Rubber Industry Exhibition that opened yesterday in HCM City. The expo will close on Saturday. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hai |
HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — A four-day plastics and rubber exhibition that opened in HCM City yesterday is expected to boost trade and investment ties between Vietnamese and foreign businesses, thus helping the industries' growth.
The 15th Vietnam International Plastic Rubber Industry Exhibition (VietnamPlas) has attracted more than 300 companies who are showcasing their products, technologies, and services at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre in District 7.
Exhibitors from Taiwan, Viet Nam, mainland China, South Korea, Iran, Japan and several other markets will bring blow moulding, injection, and plastic and rubber processing machinery, extruders, heat and control equipment, coating compounds and other chemicals, raw materials, and semi-finished and finished products among others.
Le Ngoc Trung, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's southern operation department, told those at the opening ceremony that the event offered an opportunity for suppliers of machinery, equipment, materials, and services to network.
Viet Nam is the world's third biggest rubber producer and fourth largest natural rubber exporter with exports last year of US$1.7 billion. It also exported rubber products worth $450 million.
Figures from the Vietnam Plastics Association show the industry is growing steadily. Last year its turnover topped $9 billion for an 8.3 per cent rise, and in the first half of this year the figure was $4.2 billion, up 10.3 per cent year-on-year.
The opening day will feature a seminar titled "Vietnamese plastics industry – opportunities from the formation of ASEAN Economic Community, rubber and plastics industries in HCM City and investment policies and environment."
The Vietnamese plastics industry enjoys many advantages. Most companies are private or joint stock, traditionally considered more nimble than their State-owned counterparts. Then there is Viet Nam's 90 million population, which offers a huge market.
A global factor that benefits the country is the trend to move production from developed to developing countries, and Viet Nam is considered a prime destination thanks to its stable political and economic environment. The country's rapidly growing petro-chemical industry is yet another advantage.
The obstacles to the industry's growth include the small scale of production and shortage of advanced technologies and the dependence on imported raw materials. — VNS