The Viet Nam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) and Alibaba.com, a global business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform from Alibaba Group co-hosted the “It’s my time – Viet Nam F&B online export summit” to launch the latest digital solutions for F&B companies to export their products worldwide.

Hoang Minh Chien, Deputy Director of Vietrade said: “In 2021, Vietrade and Alibaba.com have deployed more than 20 training activities, improving cross-border e-commerce capacity for more than 2,000 Vietnamese enterprises. This is an activity to improve the businesses capacity, contributing to effectively promoting and implementing the plan of Vietrade to build a digital trade promotion ecosystem speeding up digital transformation for businesses. Viet Nam is in the new normal period and is ahead of the international trade current.”

“Digital transformation in general and e-commerce is no longer an option for businesses, but these are areas of which Vietnamese businesses should be aware and have a comprehensive implementation plan to enhance their competitiveness, especially when international trade patterns have been changing towards digitisation.”

Stephen Kuo, the General Manager of Alibaba.com Asia Pacific said: “Vietnamese F&B suppliers and products have a certain global popularity and influence on Alibaba.com, and buyers all over the world especially like to look for Vietnamese suppliers. It is the time for SMEs to join and win in advance.”

Doan Tran Thuy Linh, founder of Green Diamond Product and Trade JSC - a coffee supplier, said: “Thanks to the online segment, we continue to exist and develop after COVID-19 almost stopped our coffee supply revenue. We learned to export online, products distributed by e-commerce websites are not limited in time and space. By learning through Alibaba.com workshops, we’ve facilitated the company and opened up opportunities to promote online exports. Now, I have expanded the market not only in Asia but also in Europe.”

Global trading of F&B is emerging, accounting for 9 per cent of total global trading value. On Alibaba.com, as B2B interaction has moved to digital due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for F&B products on the platform in 2021 has reportedly rocketed by 40 per cent year-on-year, while supply is falling short with current proportion of F&B buyers to sellers at 15:1. This brings endless opportunities for Vietnamese F&B businesses to fill in the gap and reach global buyers, particularly the massive 30 million registered buyers currently on Alibaba.com. — VNS