PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2017

EDITOUR PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 06/17 www.petpla.net 34 Tour Sponsors: Go with the flow. South East Asia Road Show Go with the flow - South East Asia Road Show: Vietnam and Cambodia Vietnam and Cambodia - on their way up by Kay Barton In the consumer goods industry there are two exciting fields of activ- ity in which the expanding group of buyers, driven by rising levels of domestic economic activity and wealth, is becoming increasingly interested in buying new and innovative products. The food and electronics sectors are both playing an important and influ- ential role. In both countries, wildly creative examples of PET packaging can frequently be seen on supermarket shelves; they provide a colourful, lively and attractive mix, just like Vietnam and Cambodia themselves. The ‘Socialist Republic of Viet- nam’ is situated on the easternmost point of Indochina. With a total land area of approximately 333,000km 2 it is a curve-shaped country, stretching some 1,600km from north to south and extending between 50km and roughly 600km from east to west. Vietnam borders China to its north, Laos to the north west, Cambodia and the Gulf of Thailand to the south west and the South China Sea to the east. In the 20 th century it was subject to colonial rule by Japan and France, which was followed by the partition of the country into the anti-communist, free market South, and the communist North, with its planned economy. The failure of unification efforts in the 1950s led to the Vietnam war, which ended with the capitulation of South Vietnam in the spring of 1975. The country was formally reunified in mid-1976, as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The mid-1980 saw the government begin a gradual process of reforms towards an open market economy, which included allowing foreign companies to invest in the Vietnamese market. In 2006, the country’s official new alignment was decided, with the goal of developing into an industrialised nation by 2020 and achieving a constant rate of eco- nomic growth of between 8 and 8.5%. So far, this masterplan has been largely successful; the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) has achieved an annual growth rate of between 6-7%, making Vietnam one of the fastest growing markets in South East Asia. Its exports are led by US$34bn of mobile phones and spare parts for mobile phones (over US$ 34 bn), fol- lowed by textiles and shoes. In terms of imports, machinery and installations are out in front, accounting for over US$ 28 bn. In 1995, Vietnam became the first country in Indochina to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); it joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2007. With just over 92 million people, Vietnam is the third-most populous Asian nation, after Japan and the Phil- ippines. Its tradition-steeped capital city of Hanoi, which is located in the northern part of the country, has a population of 7.6 million*. The largest conurbation in the country is the busi- ness centre of Ho Chi Minh City in the south, which is home to some 8.2 mil- lion* people (* 2015 estimates). Hanoi is also the oldest capital city in South East Asia; it celebrated its 1000-year anniversary in 2010. With an average age of just 30, Vietnam is a young country; however, this may change in decades to come, as Vietnam’s demographic profile is expected to age comparatively quickly, compared to other countries. Royal Palace Phnom Penh, Cambodia Macro-economic data Cambodia Population (2016) 15.8 million Population growth (2015) 1.6% p.a. GDP (2015) US$ 18.1 billion GDP growth rate (2016) 7.2% GDP per capita (nominal, 2016) approx. US$ 1,228 Import / export (2014) US$ 9.7 billion / US$ 6.8 billion Import / export (2015) US$ 10.7 billion / US$ 8.5 billion National debt (2015) 34% of GDP Unemployment (2016) 0.5% Inflation (2016) 1.2% The second stage of our South East Asia Road Show took us to Vietnam and Cambodia. These two countries have both suffered extremely turbulent and difficult political pasts; the after-effects are still being felt today, notwithstand- ing their current stability. Despite this, both countries are looking to the future and are banking on economic growth – although their economic infrastructures have significant differences, when directly compared.