Cheers to all Cambodian & Vietnamese people
Made-in-Vietnam goods flooding land of Angkor Wat
VietNamNet Bridge – Mr Phien, a Cambodian taxi driver with the Mai Linh Taxi Company, running on the Phnom Penh – Siem Reap route, said that now Vietnam-sourced products, not Thailand or China made, were favoured in the country.
When the workshop on the Mekong in Siem Reap, which gathered 40 journalists from Mekong sub-region countries, finished, the group of Vietnamese journalists decided to go to markets to buy some fast food to have a farewell party in City Angkor, the hotel where the journalists stayed during the workshop.
They went to Tela Mart on the Highway No 6 and saw a small market full of Vietnam-made goods. Vinamilk dairy products, Kinh Do confectionary products, dried farm produce made by Vinamit, Trung Nguyen coffee, Acecook instant noodles all could be found in the supermarket. There were also Tuong Lai dried beef, Saigon beer, Viso and Lix detergent powder, and Thien Long ball-point pens.
Finally, the journalists selected a wide range of food products for the party, and the majority of them were made in Vietnam.
Like Tela Mart, other supermarkets in Siem Reap are all small and full of Vietnam-made goods. Sophean, a saleswoman at Star Mart, said that 50% of the goods available at the supermarket were sourced from Vietnam.
Vietnam-made goods can not only be seen in supermarkets. Vietnamese footwear can be found on Siem Reap’s streets. In the homeland of Angkor Wat, there is an area for Vietnamese people, Zone One, where Vietnam-style restaurants and Vietnamese dishes, including pho (noodle soup) and Saigon beer, are concentrated.
Conquering the neighbouring market
A pick up loaded with a lot of jute bags was seen running from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. When it went through the Niek Luong ferry boat, people could see the bags of foodstuff for livestock made by Vietnam’s Viet Thang Company in Sa Dec Industrial Zone (IZ) and Proconco in Bien Hoa 1 IZ.
The pick up driver said that Cambodian farmers always buy foodstuff for livestock made in Vietnam.
Products serving production and construction made in Vietnam have been playing a very important role in the daily lives of Cambodian people, especially construction steel, consumer plastics, and products used in agriculture like fertiliser, plant protection chemicals, and animal feed.
A recent survey conducted by Saigon Tiep Thi, a Vietnamese newspaper, said that Vietnam-made products held up to 60-85% of the Cambodian market.
Most of the restaurants in the country, from popular to luxury ones, use plastic tables and chairs, bowls and sticks made in Vietnam.
Sa Mea, a businesswoman at the central market in Phnom Penh, said that a few years ago, Thai and Chinese goods could be seen everywhere in Cambodian markets. However, the situation is quite different now: Vietnam-made products prevail over the two rivals. She said that Cambodian people favoured Vietnam-made products because they were cheap and durable.
However, analysts have pointed out that there is a big weak point of Vietnam-made products. Though Cambodian people like Vietnam-made goods in general, they cannot remember any specific trademarks.