Son Ha International Corporation, one of the participating firms at the Vietbuild 2013 exhibition. — VNS Photo

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) – The largest national exhibition of the construction sector, Vietbuild, opened for the second time this year in HCM City on Thursday.

The exhibition, titled Property – Internal and External Decorations – Construction Materials, has attracted nearly 800 firms displaying their wares in more than 2,160 booths. These include their latest property products and services, building materials, internal and external decorations as well as hi-tech gadgets.

Nearly 400 of the participating firms are domestic enterprises. There are 191 joint-ventures firms and 212 foreign businesses from 18 countries and territories including China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Italy, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Australia, Germany, US and Netherlands.

One of the participating firms with a large booth, Son Ha International Corporation, said it had obtained good results from participating in the June edition of Vietbuild.

Dang Tran Hieu, marketing director of the company, said they had chosen Vietbuild as a place to introduce many new products including plastic water tanks, BK water tanks for industrial purposes and stainless steel pipes.

Especially, the plastic water tank's raw material is made from polyethylene imported from Thailand and produced under Australian technology. Unlike other water tank, its structure has three layers that can prevent totally sunshine and avoid development of seaweeds and mosses.

Hieu said the company believes the new products will satisfy local demand and hopes to find many partners during the event.

Exhibition organisers said that in the current gloomy context for both the construction and real estate sectors, the event can be a valuable opportunity for businesses to popularise their images and products in overseas markets.

Nguyen Dinh Hung, general director of Vietbuild Construction International Exhibition Organization Corp., said the previous edition of Vietbuild 2013 in June this year was very successful with contracts a worth total of VND4 trillion (US$190.4 million) signed during the event.

Vietbuild is an annual event held by the corporation in collaboration with the Ministry of Construction's Information Center.

The exhibition will remain open until August 18 at the Sai Gon Exhibition and Convention Centre. — VNS