”METALEX Vietnam 2019” , Vietnam’s International Exhibition on Machine Tools & Metalworking Solutions for Production Upgrade was held in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. There were many exhibitors and visitors from Vietnam, ASEAN countries and Japan and the exhibition ended with a great success.

The 13th edition of METALEX Vietnam was conducted from October 10 - 12 in Ho Chi Minh City, with 15,955 phenomenal quality visitors, and the presence of leading pioneer brands provided encouraging impetus to the manufacturing industry.

This time we asked Mr. Vu Trong Tai, a General Manager of Reed Tradex Vietnam Co., Ltd. who is an organizer of METALEX VIETNAM and organizes manufacturing-related exhibitions important for manufacturing industry in Vietnam.

Mr.Vu Trong Tai, General Manager of Reedtradex Vietnam Co., Ltd. 　

Please tell us about Reed Tradex Vietnam.

We are a subsidiary company of Reed Tradex Thailand and belong to Reed Exhibitions Group and RELX Group, who are one of the world’s largest exhibition organizers. We have organized several large exhibitions for manufacturing industry, machinery and electronic field for over 10 years in Vietnam. Specifically, we organized 「NEPCON Vietnam」、「Vietnam Manufacturing Expo」、「METALEX VIETNAM」、「Welding Vietnam」, and so on.

The Vietnamese market is growing at a very fast pace and the needs for business matching, new knowledge and solution are rapidly increasing in manufacturing industry and other various industries.

When thinking of exhibitors and customers in Vietnam, we thought that local management is required to provide the better support, so we established Vietnamese subsidiary in 2018 last year. We have set up an office and assigned some staffs to support the customers in Vietnam. As well as this is a significant growth opportunity for us, we are also happy to provide the detailed service close to the customers.

Please tell us about the highlight and features of METALEX Vietnam 2019.

In this exhibition, over 500 brands from 25 countries exhibited. This number of exhibitors increased by 30% compared with 2018. We feel that there are high needs for the solution of metal processing, machinery and equipment, and bearings, etc.
The exhibiting companies came from not only Vietnam, but Japan, Korea, Singapore and Europe as well. This year we set up an “Indian pavilion” and over 50 exhibitors gathered.

This time, as a joint event, “Welding Vietnam 2019” was also held in Vietnam for the first time and it showed latest welding & cutting materials, equipment, and technologies. Moreover, another joint event, “ROBOT X”, introduced integrated solution to utilize robots in factories. Holding METALEX Vietnam will be very important and exciting time for the manufacturing industry in the south of Vietnam. There are many visitors from the north part of Vietnam. More and more trade visitors are also coming from abroad (50 countries), apart from Vietnam, visitors predominantly came from Japan, China, Thailand, Taiwan, and Singapore.

There are 2 large cities, Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi. Are the exhibitions and corporate activities often held in both cities?

There were many factories of manufacturing industry and other industry in Ho Chi Minh and the surrounding area before. However, in these few years, many manufacturing factories were built in the north part of Vietnam. The number of factories is increasing rapidly because labor force and infrastructure development have been well-arranged and each area of the north part was linked with Hanoi city and the airport by highway. It almost reaches to the southern area including Ho Chi Minh.

Regarding to exhibitions, “Vietnam Manufacturing Expo” is held in Hanoi, “NEPCON Vietnam” is held in 2 cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, and “METALEX Vietnam” and “Welding Vietnam” are held in Ho Chi Minh. The exhibitions are held in both cities with good balance.

What do you think about business chance of Japanese companies in Vietnam?

The recent economy in Vietnam keeps top-level growth rate in the world with 6-7% every year. Now Vietnam is a member of the important agreements in Southeast Asia, such as CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) and FTA (Free Trade Agreement). Vietnam is taking a role as a main member of such agreements, which enables the access to the extra-large market accounting for 60-70% of world’s GDP. Due to the trade war between U.S.A and China, many companies are thinking to get out from China and move to Southeast Asia. Vietnam is a top country as a candidate of moving destination.

We feel that such various factors are accelerating Japanese companies to expand their business in Vietnam. In fact, the number of Japanese exhibitors and visitors in METALEX is increasing every year. During the exhibition, there are some companies who have already decided to expand the exhibition space for next year.

In the exhibition, we talked with JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) and they said “We are looking forward to participating the exhibition next year”. Tokyo SME Support Center (Tokyo Metropolitan Small and Medium Enterprise Support Center) held their own forum during the exhibition and many people participated it. They are providing business chance and business meeting not only between Japanese companies, but also between Vietnamese companies. In this METALEX Vietnam, they have set up more than 100 meetings and we are thinking that this will be likely to lead to the actual business contract.

From the above, we think that the Vietnamese market is in a very good tendency and condition for Japanese companies who are going to expand the business in Vietnam or thinking to expand the business in Vietnam in the future.

Please tell us the current state and perspective of automobile-related industry in Vietnam

The automobile industry in Vietnam is still developing and not as big as the one in Thailand. However, Vietnamese government is indicating the support for automobile industry and the policy of local production. Therefore, for the automobile-related companies, there are many chances to achieve rapid growth by acquiring shares of the less competitive market. Vietnam is gaining power in recent years and started having the manufacturers who produce competitive products. For the local market, this is a big step and I am thinking that the automobile-related industry in Vietnam will grow largely in 2-3 years.

〈After the interview〉
This time we interviewed Mr. Tai in METALEX VIETNAM. His story left an impression on us is that the companies in each country including Japanese companies are working on business expansion and new business development and he was feeling it exactly in the exhibition. Vietnam has a lot of potential to grow in the automobile industry and various fields. We would like to see that the technology, products and ideas made in Japan will suit in local country and succeed, with the rapid economic growth