Trade Fairs in Vietnam
Latest Update: April 28, 2023

This is relevant for: Foreign companies selling/sourcing in Vietnam

In Europe, trade fairs are an excellent opportunity for any company to present itself to a local and international audience. Albeit, in Vietnam the trade fair business is not yet as mature as in industrialized countries.

Trade Fair Grounds
Facilities are rather small. The "Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center" in HCMC is probably the largest location to hold a trade fair. In comparison with the big fair grounds in Hannover, Düsseldorf or Berlin it is however rather small with just two halls. Vietnam's capital Hanoi currently does not have any professional trade fair facilities (exhibitions are often held in the "cultural palace").

Exhibitors
Most exhibitions in Vietnam are "importer" fairs with foreign companies presenting themselves to potential local clients. For example, at the "Metalex" metal processing fair visitors will find machinery producers for this industry but typically no local manufacturers of metal goods.

Selling @ Trade Fairs

Visiting: Because local companies rarely exhibit at trade fairs it will mostly only make sense visiting to check out the international competition in the market. ☝️ Vietnamese clients will mostly not have a booth here.
Exhibiting: Having a stand at Vietnamese exhibitions is however a good option to access local companies who will come to visit. Booths at Vietnamese trade fairs can be utilized to find distributors as well as final clients.

Sourcing @ Trade Fairs

Visiting: As pointed out above, most trade fairs do not feature local exhibitors but instead foreign companies. Hence, it will not be possible to find suppliers here. There are, however, some notable exceptions, e.g.:
📇 VIFA Fair (furniture/interior), details 👉here
📇 Global Sourcing Fair (consumer goods), details 👉 here
Exhibiting: Will mostly not make sense to find suppliers.