Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnamese market has drawn many Thaienterprises who are engaging in the market through different methods, which hasput pressure on local firms.

One of the advantages Thai businesses have is that Vietnamese customershave long been fond of their products.

Thai enterprises have made good preparation for their penetration intothe Vietnamese market by holding fairs to introduce their goods and food.

Competition from Thai products in the domestic market has grown fiercer.In the first three months of 2018, Vietnam imported nearly 2.6 billion USDworth of goods from Thailand, including 146 million USD worth of vegetable andfruits. Meanwhile, Vietnam only exported 1.3 billion USD worth of goods toThailand.

Last year, Thailand was the largest trade partner of Vietnam among ASEANcountries with two-way trade reaching 15.11 billion USD, accounting for 30.5percent of total trade revenue between Vietnam and ASEAN countries.

Recently, Vietnamese firms have made many efforts to export moreproducts to Thailand, including “thieu” lychees.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, although Vietnam’sexports to Thailand have increased in recent years, Thailand still has a tradesurplus.

Along with promoting trade, Thai enterprises have set up productionfacilities in Vietnam. According to the Foreign Investment Agency under theMinistry of Planning and Investment, Thailand is the 10th largestforeign investor in Vietnam with 492 valid projects worth 9.48 billion USD.

In the first four months of 2018, Thailand climbed to ninth position,while Thai investment ranked fourth at 204 million USD.

Many big Thai players have conducted merger and acquisition deals withVietnamese firms, leading to a concern that many Vietnamese brands will belongto Thai firms.

Specifically, ThaiBev, run by Thailand’s TCC Holdings, spent nearly 4.8billion USD buying shares of the Sabeco company. Through F&N BevManufacturing and F&N Dairy Investment, the TCC Holdings bought a largenumber of Vinamilk’s share in the stock market. At the same time, anothersubsidiary of TCC Holdings, Berli Jucker, also acquired Metro Cash and Carry VNfrom Metro Group of Germany.

Another Thai power, the Central Group Thailand has expanded its businessin Vietnam considerably in the last three years. According to the Central GroupVietnam, the firm owns 230 trade centres in Vietnam with big names such as BigC, Nguyen Kim and Lan Chi Mart, as well as two online retail channels.

Along with consumer goods, Thai businesses are present in other sectorssuch as construction material, thermal power and animal feed.-VNA