Junggi Junganghoe, Support for Chungcheong Region SMEs Entering Vietnam

'2023 Chungcheong Region Vietnam Business Partnership Matching Day' event site.

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz) announced on the 16th that it held the '2023 Chungcheong Region Vietnam Business Partnership Matching Day' from the 8th to the 13th (local time) in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Now in its fifth year, this event has established itself as a representative export support project for the Chungcheong region, with 35 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from Chungcheong participating, including 21 companies from Chungnam, 10 from Daejeon, and 4 from Sejong.

Through this event, Chungcheong SMEs conducted consultations worth approximately $126 million (about 170 billion KRW) across 419 sessions with local buyers. They also signed on-site contracts worth $24 million, including 64 memorandums of understanding (MOUs).

In addition to the consultation schedule, networking events such as Korea-Vietnam business exchange events and networking forums for companies entering Vietnam were held, along with local site visits and market research programs. After the event, Kbiz plans to continue supporting participating companies through follow-up buyer matching, interpretation support, and documentary production.

Over the past five years, a total of 154 Chungcheong SMEs have participated in this project, achieving cumulative consultation sessions of 1,969 and cumulative consultation amounts of $394 million (about 532.9 billion KRW).

Lee Seung-jun, CEO of McLean Cosmetic, who signed MOUs worth about $40 million across 10 cases in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City at this event, said, “We actively promoted our company’s mission of providing the best products at reasonable prices during the consultation, which led to 14 consultations with various companies including online influencers and distribution-specialized buyers, followed by subsequent meetings. I hope other participating companies also make efforts until the end and achieve good results.”

Lee Yong-tae, CEO of Kyungdong Oriental Medicine Pharmaceutical, who signed an on-site contract worth $5 million in Hanoi, said, “After the COVID-19 endemic phase, I have been visiting Vietnam monthly to find buyers, and during this event, I found excellent food sales companies and trustworthy buyers. We plan to gradually increase the contract amount through follow-up negotiations.”

Han Si-hoon, head of the ASEAN office at Kbiz, stated, “Through this event, we were able to reaffirm the interest in Korean companies and products locally in Vietnam. Even markets once considered red oceans, such as cosmetics and health foods, offer business opportunities and growth for companies when segmented, and this is still ongoing.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.