All fresh bananas displayed for sale at over 90 AEON stores in China’s Hong Kong are imported from Vietnam, as they have replaced the fruit supplied by Taiwan, Singapore and the Philippines, heard a discussion ‘Vietnam International Sourcing 2024’ held in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday.

Speaking at the event organized by the European - American Market Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade, Yuichiro Shiotani, CEO at AEON TopValu Vietnam, said that the film brought fresh bananas grown in Vietnam to its AEON store chain in Hong Kong following the Vietnam International Sourcing Expo 2023.

Explaining why his firm shifted to the Vietnamese fruit, Shiotani said that the company’s partners had employed a circular business model.

During the banana farming and processing operations, no waste is discharged into the environment.

Notably, all the processes meet the firm’s sustainability standards, he elaborated.

Like the Japanese retailer AEON, others are selecting the sources of products based on green and sustainable development rather than prices and delivery speeds.

Shiotani believed that if Vietnam meets such standards, many of its products will go international.

Mirash Basheer, director at May Exports Vietnam, a unit of LuLu Group International, an UAE-based multinational conglomerate company that operates a chain of hypermarkets and retail companies, said that the firm’s demand for Vietnamese products is soaring.

“We are planning to purchase more cashew nuts from Vietnam, and are eyeing other products such as canned fruit, coconut juice, and canned tuna in the hope of positioning Vietnamese products at a higher level,” Basheer said.

“We also desire to directly work with coffee farmers to orient them to green and eco-friendly farming standards,” he added.

Many international retailers said that Vietnam is enjoying big opportunities to become one of the world’s leading suppliers, especially thanks to the Vietnam International Sourcing event.

This year’s Vietnam International Sourcing Expo, which is set to take place in Ho Chi Minh City from June 6 to 8, will feature the participation of multiple major global companies, such as AEON, Uniqlo, Walmart, Amazon, Safeway, Falabella, Decathlon, Central Group, LuLu, Coppel and IKEA, said Ta Hoang Linh, director general of the European - American Market Department.

The annual business fair is aimed at promoting the direct linkages between Vietnamese manufacturing and exporting enterprises with foreign retail distribution networks and importers.

A series of workshops, seminars, and business matching activities will be held during the three-day event.

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