Poland looks to ramp up trade with Vietnam

Led by Polish Foreign Affairs’ Undersecretary of State Katarzyna Kacperczyk, the Polish mission will try to “make hay when the sun shines” through their strengths in such diverse areas as food processing, green technology, waste treatment, medical equipment, mining and mining equipment, and ship building.

In an interview with VIR in Poland, Kacperczyk said this would be the biggest-ever business mission conducted by Polish companies to Vietnam. During the trip, Polish delegates will meet with Vietnam’s governmental agencies and the domestic business community to gain a working understanding of Vietnamese trade and investment policies and opportunities. Vietnam-Poland business forums will also be conducted in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ figures for last year show that Vietnam-Poland’s bilateral trade value reached $1.2 billion, with Vietnam enjoying a big trade surplus in the share. In terms of direct investment into Vietnam, the value of Polish companies’ licensed active projects reached a mere $5 million by the end of 2013.

Kacperczyk attributed these ‘humble’ results in the Vietnam-Poland trade and investment field to Polish companies’ focus on the domestic market of almost 40 million people and their preference to investing in either eastern nations like Russia, or countries in the European Union due to their proximity and attractive investment incentives.

“However, we have seen that more Polish companies are interested in investing in destinations far from Poland and the European Union, and Vietnam will be one of their attractive choices,” she said.

Rafal Milinkiewicz, deputy CEO of export sales at Famur, Poland’s biggest mining equipment suppliers, told VIR that Vietnam was a strategic market for Famur given that the country remained one of the largest coal-mining nations in the world.

He said that Famur had been working with state-run Vinacomin and they expected to sign a contract to supply equipment to the group soon.

“We also have plans to establish Famur-Vietnam to provide post-sales services in the next couple of years,” Milinkiewicz said.

In addition to these expanding trade ties between Poland and Vietnam, Poland’s apple exporters are eyeing up the Asian market. Poland is currently regarded as the biggest apple exporter worldwide with an export volume of almost two million tonnes annually, mainly to Russia, the European Union and Africa.

Dariusz Szymanski, sales manager of Nasz Sad, an apple company in Poland’s largest apple plantation region, has expressed an interest in expanding its exports  to Vietnam.