Local enterprises reaching out via Wire and Tube Southeast Asia 2019

Representatives of Vietnamese enterprises visited the Wire and Tube Southeast Asia 2019

On the first day of Wire and Tube Southeast Asia 2019, Vu Tien Cong, general director of Hoang Vu Stainless Steel Group, a Vietnamese firm, received an invitation to build a factory in Mexico from a Chinese company. This is a market that Cong is aiming for.

“Mexico is among the CPTPP markets where tariffs will be reduced to 0 per cent. Besides, it is very close to America, another of our target markets,” Cong told VIR.

Despite participating in Wire and Tube Southeast Asia for the first time, Cong had many times to come to the exhibition in the role of a visitor.

“When I was a visitor, I saw many deals made at the exhibition. And at this year’s exhibition, I have met with many companies from different countries. I believe I can turn these opportunities into valued importers,” Cong said.

Not far from the booth of Cong’s company is the booth of Tan Van Phuc Steel JSC, a 25-year-old company that has been exporting to Cambodia, Thailand, and Indonesia for 11 years now.

“We already have some distributors in Thailand and by joining the exhibition, we want to promote our products and hope to find new partners from other countries, particularly from Australia and Mexico,” Nguyen Huynh Nhut Huy, senior executive of the Export & Import Department, told VIR.

Meanwhile, producing steel tubes (mainly ringlock scaffolding) for three years now, Khang Duy Manufacturing Investment JSC (KDG) joined the exhibition with the aim of expanding its market to Southeast Asia and Europe.

“Our booth is located at an inconvenient corner but we welcomed many visitors, including both traders and producers from Myanmar, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Germany, and Italy. Our real model of ringlock scaffolding is more persuasive than the pictures in many other booths,” Truong Thi Le Ha, Import and Export manager of KDG, shared with VIR.

Although this is the first time her company participates in such an exhibition and there are many companies from China to compete with Vietnamese ones, she Ha was still confident in the quality of her products.

“We are producers, we can customise the products. Moreover, our products – particularly important parts – are made of steel, not cast-iron, so they are much better. Besides, Vietnam holds the advantage in tariff over Chinese competitors,” Ha said.

Visiting Ha’s booth together with 10 other visitors from India, Raj Kumar Gupta, manager of Interno Infinity Products, told VIR, “Our subsidiary works in the field of construction. We are looking for this kind of product. It is new to India because it’s stainless while most such products in India are rusted,” Gupta said. “I will contact Ha right when I return to India.”

A booth of a Vietnamese company at Wire and Tube Southeast Asia 2019

Evaluating Vietnamese exhibitors at Wire and Tube Southeast Asia 2019, Friedrich Georg Kehrer, global portfolio director of Metals and Flow Technologies, Messe Dusseldoft GmbH, said, “Vietnamese companies are very ambitious and I know that they have been producing some impressive achievements and good products. I hope that Vietnamese exhibitors will be as satisfied as companies from other countries.”

According to Friedrich, over the years, cities all over Southeast Asia are on a growth trajectory, as industry projections indicate that about 100 million people in the ASEAN are expected to migrate from the countryside to cities from now through to 2030.

“We will see Southeast Asian nations spend an estimated $323 billion on infrastructure development, so the Wire and Tube Southeast Asia 2019 has provided a mutually beneficial platform for exhibitors and visitors to share best practices and shape partnerships and discover business prospects in the global arena,” he said.

Taking place in three days, along with the exhibitions of Pack Print International 2019 and T-PLAS, Wire and Tube Southeast Asia 2019 attracted more than 400 leading companies from 30 countries, including seven national pavilions and groups and thousands of visitors.

“This is very impressive and a good show in term of attendants and visitors compared to the show two years ago. These numbers have gone up in a very significant way. We are happy to have managed to bring the right people to the exhibitors,” Friedrich affirmed.