With average growth of 15 – 20 percent a year, the packaging industry for processed food in Vietnam is relatively attractive to foreign machinery providers in the field.
On the contrary, experts warned today’s biggest challenge which the packaging industry is facing, is technology innovation because customers have increased demand for smarter packaging such as slight packages, environmentally friendly packaging, eye-catching design.
As per the Vietnam Printing Association, the packaging and printing industries in Vietnam have grown significantly with average growth rate of 15-20 per cent annually
Especially, the packaging industry for processed food soared by 38 percent for 2015 while demand of material and machines in the industry also hiked by 25 percent.
One more challenge for the industries is that the design is simple; accordingly, enterprises is less likely to actively participate in the value chain and create sustainable profit meanwhile domestic demand have risen for consumer goods, processed food and for packing exporting commodities.
The solutions advised by experts are the application of new technologies in manufacturing, using new materials, investing in advanced production lines to increase efficiency and assuring quality of products.
Statistically, in Ho Chi Minh City, packaging and printing share in the city account for 60-65 percent of the whole country and it has seen growth rate of 15 percent annually.
At present, of over 1,000 packaging factories in the country, 70 percent of them are located in the Southern Vietnam (mostly in HCMC)
Chairman of the Vietnam Printing Association Nguyen Van Dong said that the packaging and printing industries’ growth rate is 55 percent in Asia generally and Southeast Asia particularly within ten recent years.
Though Vietnamese enterprises have advantages of low labor cost and high domestic demand, they are encountering fierce competition from Chinese counterparts and not many of them can afford new technologies. Hence, government should provide financial aid to them to improve their competitiveness as well as buy environmentally friendly machines.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said the industries play an important role in industrial production especially processed food industry which is inclined to printing technologies and automatic packaging to have smart packages; accordingly, demands of advanced equipment are raised resulting in the packaging and printing industry’s technology innovation.
