The event gathered representatives from the MoIT’s Trade Promotion Agency, the Vietnam Electrotechnical Industry Association (VELINA), Vietnamese enterprises and a Filipino business delegation consisting of 12 businesses and 22 entrepreneurs from the Federation of Electrical & Electronics Suppliers & Manufacturers of the Philippines (PESA) - the largest organisation of Filipino businesses with members who are enterprises specialising in the import, distribution and production of electrical equipment.
Speaking at the event, Deputy Head of the Trade Promotion Agency Le Hoang Tai emphasised that Vietnam and the Philippines have enjoyed strong growth in trade relations in recent years, with two-way trade turnover in 2018 reaching above US$4.7 billion, an increase of over 18% compared to 2017. The Philippines has become an important import market of Vietnam with import turnover reaching US$3.5 billion in 2018, up 22.2% compared to 2017. In the first two months of 2019, Vietnam's exports to the Philippines reached more than US$587 million, up 19%.
Vietnamese products have penetrated and gradually affirmed their position in the market of nearly 110 million people, with key items including coffee, seafood, textiles, construction materials, machinery and equipment. The export potential of Vietnamese goods into the 5th largest economy in ASEAN are still huge, especially manufactured goods including electrical equipment, electric wires and cables, Tai stated.
According to Vu Viet Nga, Commercial Counsellor of the Vietnamese Embassy in the Philippines, there are a number of electrical products and equipment from Vietnam that are exported to the Philippines but the number is still limited, focusing mainly on electric cables of several enterprises as Lioa and Thinh Phat.
Meanwhile, the Vietnamese businesses’ production capacity is great and foreign partners have recognised the quality of made-in-Vietnam products, but domestic businesses still have not paid adequate attention to this market, Nga noted.
Hero Yu, PESA Chairman and General Director of Yu Eng Kao Electrical Supply and Hardware, Inc., specialising in the production and distribution of electrical equipment with 100 years of history, also assessed that the Vietnamese market has huge potential for machinery and electrical equipment, with high quality and competitive prices.
At the event, business representatives from both sides exchanged the opportunity to supply machinery and electrical equipment from Vietnam to the Philippines. The Filipino side expressed their interest in importing Vietnamese electrical products, electric cables, lighting equipment, voltage stabilisers, electrical panels, transformers, wire conduits, conductive cores, pumps and water meters, among others.
Also at the matching, VELINA and PESA signed a Memorandum of Understanding to boost electricity cooperation between both sides.
