Vietnam Garden Products: Key Sectors and Strengths
ET2C’s Vietnam Sourcing Team has already identified strong opportunities within the Vietnam Garden Products and Outdoor sector. This is due to raw material availability as well as manufacturing capability already in place. Combined with favorable political, social, and economic factors, Vietnam Garden Products present a significant opportunity on the global stage.
Although relations between the United States and China appear to be improving, Vietnam continues to attract U.S. buyers because of tariffs on Chinese products. These tariffs could raise costs by up to 25% this year if no agreement is reached. As a result, many companies are de-risking supply chains and spreading their sourcing across multiple jurisdictions. The Vietnam Garden Products sector will play an important role in this Asian sourcing strategy, with suppliers investing in manufacturing capacity and R&D.
As your Asian sourcing expert, we have highlighted some of the key Vietnam Garden Products categories. These include pottery, netting, garden tools, gloves, plant supports, arches, obelisks, hanging baskets, coco-liners, and outdoor furniture. To build on our “We Are Garden” initiative, we recently visited suppliers to gain deeper insights into the industry and opportunities. In this issue, we interviewed a pottery supplier who exports to the EU, U.S., and Australia.
Vietnam Garden Products : Pottery Supplier
After a two-hour drive, we arrived at a vast manufacturing site in Binh Duong Province. The site was bustling, with three containers being loaded as we pulled in.
The company CEO, Mrs. T, was waiting for us outside her office with some of her key staff.
We were shown around two large showrooms, filled with different product ranges and finishes, followed by their cavernous warehouse. It was immediately clear that this factory was well set up for export, with certifications including TQM, BSCI, and C-TPAT.
Established in 1999, the company manufactures ceramics, cement-based, and polyresin housewares. Their product portfolio includes ceramics, terrazzo, terracotta, pottery, high-fired, lite stone, and poly stone, among other key styles.
Vietnam Garden Products: Interview
1. Which countries within the Asian Region do you see as your main competitors?
Within Asia, I see Malaysia and Thailand as our main competition. They do not have the labour cost advantage that Vietnam has and therefore mainly produce larger sizes by machine. They also do not have the range of colour options. China is always a competitor, due to its depth of manufacturing, but they are certainly volume geared.
2. What does ‘Sustainability’ mean to your business?
Sustainability means putting an emphasis on our staff and ensuring that they are treated in an ethical and fair way. Also, looking at focusing on the environment and our processes.
3. How do you continue to develop your export market and client base?
We have put a great focus on innovation and look to develop new and unique designs for our clients. Also, the service and quality we provide to our clients is key to grow our business with them as well as identify new clients at Global trade shows. We are also looking to engage more with social media.
4. What are your biggest challenges as a business?
From both an internal and external perspective, with increasing demand, we need to properly manage our staff base and production capability. One of the biggest challenges is the Government restrictions on pottery Kilns as we need to make sure we have space to fire our ceramics.
5. What is the future for the Vietnam manufacturing base in your product category?
The pottery industry in Vietnam is well established and has been exporting products for a long time now. There is innovation coming into the Homewares category and this is evident with the introduction of lightweight options. These are cement compositions (such as polyresin) and have shorter lead times, are lightweight and can be used to make lots of contemporary styles. We have our own unique features, that we have honed over our years of experience, such as unique glazes, water & frost resistance, and special surfaces.
Vietnam Garden Products: Summary
Vietnam Garden Products Essential Insights & Opportunities The Vietnamese Pottery industry is underpinned by over a thousand years of artisan expertise and has developed to the mass market offering that it is today. Although labour is still an important part, there is increasing investment in machinery to make the process more efficient. Moreover, this will detemine more advantageous costs on a global stage. New alternative materials have also become more prevalent as different options for the consumer.
As a Vietnam Sourcing Company, and having been on the ground for over 10 years, we have identified the Garden Product and Outdoor sector as a growth manufacturing sector in Vietnam. Where necessary, we have developed manufacturing capability at factory level to produce high-quality products at competitive prices. There is now a unique opportunity to source a breadth of products all out of Vietnam.
For more information, please contact us at vietnam@et2cint.com. We will help your business positively blossom!
