From baby food to wine, organic is hot in Vietnam

Potential market

Concerned about unsafe food, more and more Vietnamese consumers tend to seek chemical-free organic products. Higher earnings and standard of living make such products increasingly affordable. According to the Vietnam Organic Agriculture Association, Vietnamese people consume about 1.7 million euros worth of organic foods each year.

Director Florian Mathieu of the French winemaker Chateau de Manissy believes plentiful agricultural land resources and high consumer demand will offer opportunities to develop organic products in Vietnam.

Joonas Puvi, a representative of Salvest, an Estonian manufacturer of organic foods for children, also believes in the promise of the Vietnamese organic food market. “We see great potential, especially within the organic baby food sector. We learned that approximately 50 percent of the entire Vietnamese population is under 30-years-old, highlighting an increase in the overall birth rate over the past couple of decades. Consecutive GDP growth also shows an overall increase in demand for products, including baby food, signaling an opportunity for us to introduce Salvest to consumers. Disposable incomes have also increased, and consumers are willing to pay more for better quality food products, especially baby food. Young parents today are generally well-educated and therefore, tend to make informed decisions on the type of food that’s best for their babies.”

EU offerings

Ambassador Bruno Angelet, Head of the EU delegation to Vietnam, said food safety is one of the biggest concerns for Vietnamese people. “We can ensure the quality of European food and beverage products,” he affirmed.

More than 40 European companies participated in EuroSphere 2018, an exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City, to introduce a variety of agricultural products, foods and beverages, from fresh fruit and vegetables to cattle meat and poultry, processed food, milk and milk products. They met Vietnamese distributors, importers, exporters, retailers and representatives of supermarket chains, as well as of hotels, cafes and restaurants.

About 100 European exporters have been licensed to export meat to Vietnam. The number of businesses trading in European organic food products that want to invest in Vietnam is growing.