An industry and commercial success

After reviewing a number of metalworking exhibitions here in HCMC over the past few years I must admit, when travelling to Metalex 2013, held at the Saigon Exhibition and Conference Centre recently, I wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary, just business as usual I thought to myself. But when attending the exhibition’s opening ceremony I started to feel that there was something different about this year’s Metalex Vietnam.

Now I’ve attended my fair share of trade show opening ceremonies, which always had some level of official government representation providing a welcoming speech, however, this time it was different. As I looked at the list of VIPs in attendance I realised that we were in the company of some serious heavy weights. The Indian Ambassador to Vietnam, Japanese and Vietnamese Government representatives, Industry Bodies, academics, the list went on.

The presence of such high profile government officials, particularly from India and Japan, indicated there was some significant interest in Vietnam as a trading partner, and they were here to show strong support for their country’s overseas commercial efforts.

This year’s Official Partner of Metalex was INDEE Vietnam, the exhibition wing of EEPC INDIA (Formerly Engineering Export Promotion Council), an Indian government sponsored industry body that provides support for Indian manufacturers to develop their export potential, and with a record number of Indian exhibitors it was obvious they were here to do some important business.

Duangdej Yuaikwarmdee,

Deputy Managing Director,

Reed Tradex Thailand

To get an overview of this year’s Metalex I first caught up with Mr. Duangdej Yuaikwarmdee, Deputy Managing Director of Reed Tradex Thailand, a company with years of experience producing metalworking trade shows here in Saigon, and asked him about the history of the event and what would be some of the highlights this year’s attendees and exhibitors could expect.

Duangdej said this was the seventh Metalex held here in Vietnam and by all accounts, was the biggest and best to date. The focus of this year’s event was on developing Vietnam’s supportive industries through organising business networking opportunities, and industry and product education.

With regards to the type of products on offer at this year’s Metalex, Duangdej pointed out that “the domestic market in Vietnam is still pretty much focused on the low end products, but as we now see a lot of foreign companies coming to set-up operations here, we can also see an increase in the purchasing power of a lot of businesses. But this increase in foreign investment and an increased need for quality assurance in all areas of manufacturing, is starting to change this low end purchasing trend”.

Duangdej went on to say that “there’s a big push at the moment to get Vietnam to decrease their dependence on imports, particularly with regards to the manufacturing of machined parts, such as those required by the automotive industry. For example, if the automotive manufacturing sector is to maintain a competitive advantage they need to invest heavily in stimulating the support industries, and if Vietnam wants to catch up with some of the region’s more developed nations, this can only happen through investment in technology.”

Apart from India and Japan having a strong presence at Metalex, there was also solid representation from Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand, aZoom Kobe X ZK10