HCM City boosts market connectivity for food and food processing sector

HCM City boosts market connectivity for food and food processing sector

A wide range of processed foods, rice, canned and bottled beverages, spices, tea and coffee, confectionery and health-oriented products are being showcased at the Business Matching and HCM City Products Week 2025 – Food and Beverages, which opened in HCM City on December 16.

Delegates cut the ribbon to open the Business Matching and HCM City Products Week 2025 – Food and Beverages in HCM City on December 16. — Photo courtesy of ITPC

Jointly organised by the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of HCM City (ITPC) and the HCM City Food and Foodstuff Association (FFA), the event aims to create favourable conditions for the city’s food and food processing enterprises to promote and introduce their flagship and newly developed high-quality products to export partners, buyers, domestic consumers and international visitors. 

Speaking at the opening ceremony, ITPC Director Trần Phú Lữ said the programme had drawn strong interest from the business community, with more than 100 enterprises registering to participate. Based on the criteria of representativeness and product quality, the organising committee selected 60 leading companies with complete quality certification dossiers to take part in the exhibition.

A notable highlight of this year’s event is its focus on products suitable as gifts for the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tết), reflecting businesses’ efforts to introduce new offerings aligned with modern consumption trends and meeting green, clean, organic and environmentally friendly standards.

Lữ noted that following the merger with Bình Dương and Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu, HCM City is now home to more than 345,000 operating enterprises, among which food processing businesses account for a significant proportion, including many of Việt Nam’s leading corporations.

Lữ highlighted the progress made by food industry enterprises in improving product quality, adopting digital technologies, advancing digital transformation and using natural resources and energy more efficiently. As a result, many products have met the stringent standards of demanding markets such as the United States, Japan and Europe. 

Delegates cut the ribbon to open the Business Matching and HCM City Products Week 2025 – Food and Beverages in HCM City on December 16. — Photo courtesy of ITPC

“Within this promising macroeconomic landscape, the food and foodstuff processing industry continues to be identified as one of the city’s four key industrial sectors prioritised for development, accounting for 14–15 per cent of total industrial production value,” Lữ said.

“The sector plays a vital role not only in ensuring food security and safeguarding public health, but also in contributing directly to economic growth.”

FFA Chairwoman Lý Kim Chi also underlined the sector’s importance, noting that the industrial production index of the food industry rose by nearly 9 per cent year on year in the first 11 months of 2025.

She acknowledged that businesses continue to face challenges, including rising logistics costs, volatile export markets and a slow recovery in domestic purchasing power. However, she stressed that new consumer trends such as green foods, alternative products, stricter traceability requirements and higher food safety standards are reshaping the market and opening up new development opportunities.

Running until December 22, the event goes beyond a product showcase, serving as a platform for enterprises to connect, share experiences, grasp emerging trends and seek partners, she said.

It also features a business matching conference linking producers with distribution systems, e-commerce platforms and buyers, as well as a seminar on “Export Prospects to the Middle East and Turkey: Opportunities and Challenges for Vietnamese Enterprises.” 

Bizhub