Vietnam’s representatives attended the Vibrant Tamil Nadu Food Edition Madurai 2018 food exhibition in India from August 12 to August 15.

The exhibition, organized by the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was held at IDA SCUDDER Trade Center, located in Tamil Nadu State’s capital Madurai.

In total, there were over 200 business participants from India, and representatives of 30 countries all over the world including the U.S., Canada, European countries, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and others.

With support from the Embassy of Vietnam in India, there were seven businesses attending the fair, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

The fair mainly displayed and promoted agricultural goods, food and beverages such as vegetables, rice, various types of nuts, processed food, dairy products, candies and seafood.

At the exhibition, the Vietnamese businesses introduced the world to Vietnam’s potential food production industry while discussing cooperation opportunities, especially how to attract Indian and foreign investors to Vietnam.

The Vietnamese market has many advantages including its size and tremendous export potential thanks to trade agreements signed with other countries.

The fair not only displayed various goods but also promoted cooperation, discussion, and learning opportunities.

Workshops and seminars with guest speakers from different countries were organized on a broad spectrum of topics including processed food and beverages, current situations of the food industry, solutions for promoting the industry’s development, as well as the most recent innovations and technology.

Other activities were meetings and networking events meant to connect businesses with one another on an international scale, and link the firms with authorities to enhance development and expansion.

The activities enabled the Vietnamese businesses to get to know, and proceed to sign several trade agreements with, Indian partners in manufacturing, food processing, as well as finding investors.

This is one of many efforts to promote trade between Vietnam and India after their trade agreement was signed during Vietnamese State President Tran Dai Quang’s visit to India in March last year.

Vietnam-India bilateral trade has spiked ten times for the last decade since the two countries established a strategic partnership.

The most significant increase has been seen in recent years.

The food processing industry is one of the largest and crucial ones in India, reaching up to US$258 billion in value as of 2015, accounting for 14 percent of the country’s GDP and estimated to grow to $500 billion in 2020.

India’s food processing industry is currently the second biggest in the world, in which the production of milk, beef, bean, banana, mango, guava, and wheat is the largest globally.

India is the second biggest producer of paddy, sugar, and tea.

Currently, the Indian government is aiming at doubling farmers’ income by 2022.

Tamil Nadu, located in the southernmost part of India, is one of the main agricultural producers of the country with paddy production of eight million tonnes per year, making up 10 percent of national paddy production.

Other significant agro-products include corn standing at three million tonnes per year, accounting for 12 percent of the country’s corn production; various types of nuts at 900,000 tonnes (15 percent), coconut at 4.25 million tonnes (35 percent), sugarcane at 26.5 million tonnes – the fourth highest in India – flowers, sunflower seeds, cigarettes and other agricultural goods such as spices, vegetables, and fruits.

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