The market recovered well, there was great demand for Vietnamese goods

At the Consultative session on exporting to the US market, organized by the Trade Promotion Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) on November 30, Mr. Bui Huy Son - Counselor, Ambassador, Trade and Trade Office of Vietnam in the US - said: The US economy is recovering strongly, GDP growth in the third quarter of 2021 reached 4.9%. After 2 quarters of crisis, the US economy continuously grew for 5 consecutive quarters.

Total imports (import) of the US will reach 2.3 trillion USD in 2020, 9 months of 2021, import will reach 2 trillion USD, it is likely that in 2021 the US will set a new record in import turnover. Mr. Bui Huy Son affirmed that this is a potential market for Vietnamese goods.

Mr. Bui Huy Son also said: The US is importing a lot of agricultural products, food and furniture from Vietnam. For agricultural products and food, in the first 10 months of 2021, only Vietnam's rice and coffee exports (exports) to the United States have decreased, while the rest of the items have increased. In 2021, the value of retail sales of agricultural and food products in the US increased sharply, showing that this group of goods recovered quickly, even surpassing the time before the outbreak of the pandemic. In the long term, the demand for agricultural products and foodstuffs in the United States continues to increase, the structure remains unchanged but the quantity increases significantly from 2021-2025.

Vietnam's wooden furniture group has a foothold in the US market. The market outlook for this item in the last month of the year can be seen to be very positive due to the shopping demand for the holiday. On the other hand, in the context that people are getting used to working from home, the need to buy furniture for living also leads to an increase in demand for this item.

Vietnam's wooden furniture is a product that is in high demand in the US market

“The US market has a large size and purchasing power, very diverse consumption habits, creating a lot of room for exploitation and competition, and importantly, creating new spaces for Vietnamese goods to penetrate. The large Vietnamese population in the United States is also a bridge and an important consumer group in the US for Vietnamese goods," said Mr. Bui Huy Son.

Regarding the food market in the western region of the United States, Mr. Tran Minh Thang - Head of Vietnam Trade Branch in San Francisco - information: This area has many large supermarkets such as Safeway, King Soopers, Albertsons and Sprouts Famers Market…. The Vietnamese-American market here is also relatively large with 2.18 million people, purchasing power reaching 57 billion USD, especially consumption habits are still very close to Vietnamese people. This is an effective channel to help Vietnamese goods penetrate deeply into the western US market.

With the southern US market, many US importers contacted the Vietnam Product Introduction Center in New York to look for suppliers from Vietnam. In which, the most suggested items are agricultural products, food, textile products, medical products for epidemic prevention, shoes, furniture, handicrafts...

Pay attention to quality standards

Despite high demand and great consumption, the United States is still one of the most difficult markets in the world for goods to penetrate. One of the first challenges and always warned by experts is the extremely strict system of food safety and hygiene standards, complicated regulations, effectively enforced and participatory management. of many agencies.

Regarding this, Mr. Bui Huy Son- emphasized: The US food safety standard system is built at both state and federal levels. Therefore, it requires meticulous and thorough research to understand, implement and respond.

In addition, businesses (DN) bringing goods to the US must also overcome challenges from the tightening of people's spending due to high inflation; environmental and labor barriers; compete with other countries; trade remedies; geographical distance.

According to the representative of an enterprise with many years of experience in exporting fruit to the US market, exporting goods to the US must take into account 5-10 years, it is very difficult to stand in this market in a short time. . Moreover, the product quality inspection must be a regular and continuous work to ensure that the product does not exceed the allowable threshold for pesticide residues. The manufacturer's product preservation technology also needs to be researched and upgraded so that goods can be transported by sea instead of air as at present in order to reduce costs, lower costs and improve competitiveness. of the product.

Emphasizing the change in consumer trends and product suitability, a representative of a wood furniture business analyzed, the US furniture market towards products of different sizes. The size is larger than the normal standard to serve people's work from home.

Along with that, the trend of online shopping has become very popular, Vietnamese businesses can take advantage of large e-commerce channels like Amazon to promote and introduce products. However, businesses also need to differentiate their products through product design, evaluation and marketing strategies to make their product brands stand out from other brands in the same category. items.

In addition, at the consultation session, the experts also proposed many recommendations to help Vietnamese goods successfully penetrate the US market: Ensuring the origin of raw materials, promoting trade promotion activities, setting up a distribution system for Vietnamese goods. coordinate, promote information technology application, pay more attention to price, actively associate with Vietnamese business associations in the US states.