HCM City (VNA) - Experts have urged Vietnamese exporters to shift their attentionto neighbouring ASEAN markets given that COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on majormarkets such as the EU and the US, a recent conference heard.

Co-hostedby the HCM City Centre of International Integration Support and the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade’s Asia-Africa Market Department last week, those at the conferencediscussed ways domestic enterprises could boost exports to ASEAN countries.

There isstill plenty of room for Vietnamese goods to expand their foothold in theregion, said Nguyen Phuc Nam, deputy head of the Asia-Africa Market Department.

Indonesia,Thailand, and the Philippines are now Vietnam’s top markets in ASEAN. WhileThailand primarily imports dried fruit and garments, Indonesia and thePhilippines mostly purchase power generators, water pumps, electricalappliances, and telecom products, Nam said.

ASEANremains the largest importer of Vietnamese rice, with the Philippines leadingthe way, he continued. Rice exports from Vietnam to the bloc stood at 1 billionUSD last year and are expected to rise further in the time to come, driven byCOVID-19.

Vietnameseseafood, coffee, and fruit all hold substantial potential to gain broaderaccess to ASEAN, he added.

However,most Vietnamese exporters to ASEAN are small and medium-sized enterprises usingold technologies that are only suitable for shipments to relatively undemandingmarkets like Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, according to Vice Chairman of the HCMCity Union of Business Associations Pham Ngoc Hung.

Inregional markets with higher standards, such as Thailand and Singapore,Vietnamese goods face stiff competition from China, Japan, the Republic ofKorea, and India, he said.

Vietnameseenterprises are yet to pay sufficient attention to ASEAN markets, though theyare now offered various preferential customs duties andcan benefit greatly from geographic proximity, he noted.

He added thepandemic caused Vietnam’s exports to ASEAN to plunge 13.4 percent in the firsthalf of this year.

A viewwidely held among experts at the conference is that Vietnamese enterprises needto restructure their product portfolios to match the new circumstances and atthe same time must improve product quality by using modern technologies.

TruongXuan Trung, chief of the Vietnamese trade office in Indonesia, suggestedVietnamese enterprises expand distribution channels through local networks ofwholesalers in order to gain easier access to local markets and save costs.

They arealso advised to keep in close contact with Vietnamese trade offices in ASEANmarkets to receive support and consultation in terms of local policies, procedures,and customs clearance, according to Trung./.