Japan’s Marubeni Corp. and Vietnam’s Dong Nai Food Industry Corp. (Dofico) have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperating in feeding, producing and trading in agro-products in Vietnam.
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| Mr. Wakabayashi Satoshi, chief operating officer of Marubeni’s Food Material Division |
Japan’s Marubeni Corp. and Vietnam’s Dong Nai Food Industry Corp. (Dofico) have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperating in feeding, producing and trading in agro-products in Vietnam. On this occasion, Mr. Wakabayashi Satoshi, Chief Operating Officer of Marubeni’s Food Materials Division, and Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Hong, Chairwoman and General Director of Dofico, spoke about the partnership.
Q: What are you heading for with this partnership?
Mr. Wakabayashi: We always want to take the leading position in the market that we invest in. We are now seen as the leader in this sector in Japan. We also want to be in the same position in Vietnam. This is the reason why we partnered with Dofico, one of the leading agro-products companies here. To make it come true, we have a lot of things to do to develop the partnership from trading in agricultural materials and feeding products to supporting advanced technologies and maximizing productivity and transferring feeding experiences to achieve good results and reduce risks.
Ms. Hong: I want the betrothal to become a marriage soon. Both sides are also boosting our respective plans.
You said Marubeni will transfer its feeding experience into Vietnam. What will the company do to help farmers get good results from feeding?
Mr. Wakabayashi: Experts from Marubeni Nisshin Feed Co. in Japan will come to Vietnam and conduct surveys about how Vietnamese feed animals, which meat they produce and what kind of feed they use. The experts will also directly study the farms here to understand country-of-origin labeling for products.
Producing feed and agro-products can affect the environment. What experiences from Mabureni can solve these issues in Vietnam?
Mr. Wakabayashi: Two things we want to know: What does safe food mean in Vietnam? And how can we satisfy customers about our products? So, first of all, Marubeni and Dofico will join together to understand these as Vietnamese and Japanese cultures are different from each other. For the environment, this is not only a specific case to Vietnam or Japan. It is a global case. Through the partnership, we will find solution to avoid affecting the environment.
One more issue is from prices of agro-products. Since last year, prices of feed and agro-products in particular have increased sharply. What are some solutions from the Marubeni-Dofico joint venture?
Ms. Hong: I must say that this is a special time in Vietnam. In my opinion, prices are made from the product values, and demand and supply. But in Vietnam, prices of foods are very high due to other reasons. Besides efforts from businesses, it is necessary to have solutions from the Government. It needs administrative tools such as the price stabilization fund and a large resource for storing the products that will be used in the market in case of urgency.
Mr. Wakabayashi: The Japanese market is used to experiencing times of price escalation, too. For example, prices of feed and agro-products have increased so much. However, companies could not increase prices much as they wanted to stabilize the market. So, the Government had price-subsidy policies for these companies. In particular, Marubeni will discuss these experiences with Dofico to help farmers.
One of the meanings of the partnership is to create safe and affordable products for customers. We are going to create a fund to help the farmers.
When will you “get married?”
Mr. Wakabayashi: It will possibly take about three months. We have five tasks to do to reach the official Strategic Partnership Agreement. One of them, working with Proconco in supplying agri-commodities at reasonable prices, is done. The other four tasks are on their way. I believe we will reach the agreement on time.
In recent years, several joint ventures between local and foreign players specializing in feed and agro-products have been established in Vietnam. What are competitive points of the venture between Marubeni and Dofico?
Mr. Wakabayashi: Our strongest point is the capacity of each partner that has been examined in the market so far. We have our own strong points. We will learn experiences from each other and create quality products for the Vietnamese market.
Ms. Hong: The main purpose of the cooperation is to contribute to the development of Vietnam’s agricultural sector. We need both objective and subjective elements which are already explained by Mr Wakabayashi. What we really need now is the support from the Vietnamese and Japanese governments so that the projects we are going to carry out will create benefits for farmers and consumers.
How about suggestions from Marubeni as a foreign investor in Vietnam?
Mr. Wakabayashi: Before deciding to enter Vietnam’s agricultural market, we discussed it a lot. Vietnam has political stability, smart people and incentives for foreign investors like us. So, we believe success is possible here. The thing we want most from the local government is that it should create a healthy, competitive atmosphere in the feed industry in particular.
(Source: SGT)
