A Cactus shop introduces Vietnamese tea and coffee on a downtown street in Toronto, Canada. — VNA Photo

The Vietnam-Canada Business Association (VCBA) on August 9 coordinated with the Ho Chi Minh City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC) to organise a seminar in both in-person and online format to support Vietnamese enterprises in accessing the North American and Canadian markets.

This event is part of the cooperation project between the VCBA and the ITPC. In the initial stage of the project, Vietnamese enterprises will be supported to promote their products at the supermarket chain 88 in Canada.

The move is expected to help promote business cooperation between the sides' business communities. The cooperation project was launched after a visit to Vietnam last year by the VCBA's delegation to learn about the Vietnamese market.

VCBA Chairman Chau Tu Cuong, who is also the owner of the supermarket chain 88 in Vancouver, said that the Canadian and North American markets have a lot of development potential for Vietnamese products.

In the first half of 2024, Canada imported over US$228 million worth of agricultural and food products from Vietnam, accounting for 5.5% of Vietnam’s total export value to Canada, an increase of about 24% over the same period last year. Vietnam's main exports to this country are seafood and processed seafood, with a turnover of nearly $100 million.

Currently, products of Asian origin entering Canada are mainly dried goods, processed foods, non-alcoholic beverages, spices and sauces. These retail products are expected to continue to achieve high consumption levels in the 2024-2030 period, Cuong said.

He added that import-export enterprises and supermarket chains of Vietnamese people in Canada, with the strength of understanding the tastes and preferences of Vietnamese and Asian people, have become extremely important distribution channels, contributing to bringing Vietnamese products to the Canadian market in particular and North America in general. — VNA/VNS