Vietnam hosts an increasingly diverse range of trade exhibitions covering manufacturing, technology, food, healthcare, agriculture, logistics, and other industries. For Japanese and other foreign companies exploring Vietnam market entry, these events can serve not only as promotional venues but also as concentrated opportunities to understand customers, test products, identify partners, and collect industry information. However, participation alone does not guarantee results. The value depends on selecting the right exhibition, defining objectives in advance and conducting systematic follow-up afterwards.

What are trade exhibitions?

Trade exhibitions are business events where suppliers, buyers, distributors, manufacturers, professional users, industry associations and other stakeholders gather around a particular industry or business theme. While exhibiting companies use booths to present products and services, modern trade exhibitions increasingly combine product displays with business matching, seminars, networking and other industry activities.

Vietnam’s exhibition landscape covers a wide range of sectors. Vietnam International Precision Engineering and Manufacturing Exhibition & Conference (MTA) 2026 brought together 453 exhibitors and 13,324 trade attendees from 18 countries and regions[1], while Factory Network Business Conference (FBC) ASEAN 2026 focused on manufacturing supply-chain connections and pre-arranged business matching[2]. In ICT, Vietnam International Exhibition on Telecommunication, Information Technology, Communication & Consumer Electronics (Vietnam ICTComm) 2026 brought together more than 160 exhibitors and 2,143+ trade visitors from over 15 countries and regions, covering areas such as telecommunications, 5G and IoT, AI, cybersecurity, smart technologies and consumer electronics[3]. Healthcare is represented by Vietnam Medipharm Expo 2025, which hosted 300 exhibitors and 6,530 trade visitors, with 65% of exhibitors coming from overseas[4]. Vietnam Cycle Expo 2026 brought together 400 exhibitors and 11,295 trade visitors in the two-wheel and sports-related market[5].

Examples of major trade exhibitions in Vietnam

Sources: Exhibitions’ reports, B&Company’s synthesis

What can trade exhibitions provide?

Networking and building relationships

What distinguishes a specialized exhibition from general networking is the concentration of commercially relevant participants. For example, at ICTComm 2025, 52% of verified buyers were C-level executives, directors or business owners, another 28% were managers or senior specialists, and 20% were procurement officers or technical leads. More than 1,000 direct B2B connections were recorded during 3 days of the event.

Source: ICTComm 2025

Their reasons for attending were also closely connected with market-entry activities: 39% came to place orders or source products, 34% to seek suppliers, agents or local representatives, and 15% for market research. For a foreign company with few local contacts, this provides access not only to potential customers but also to possible distributors and representatives[6].

Source: ICTComm 2025

Showcasing products and services

Exhibitions allow customers to experience products directly rather than relying only on catalogues or online information. At FBC ASEAN 2026, ONAGA Vietnam, linked to Japanese aerospace manufacturer ONAGA, showcased aircraft bushings and its machining and special process capabilities. The example shows how a Japanese manufacturer can use a specialized exhibition to demonstrate highly technical products directly to industrial buyers.

ONAGA Vietnam at FBC ASEAN 2026

Sources: ONAGA VIETNAM

This is particularly useful for food, machinery, equipment, and other products where quality, functionality, or technical specifications are easier to communicate through demonstrations and face-to-face discussion. For Japanese companies, this channel is already being actively used. JETRO’s Japan Pavilion at MTA Vietnam 2026 brought together 26 Japanese mid-sized and SME exhibitors in industrial machinery, components, measurement equipment, metal cutting, and manufacturing DX. It also introduced a Challenge Space for companies at an earlier stage of overseas expansion[7]. The objective was to support sales-channel development in Vietnam and the wider ASEAN market. This illustrates how exhibitions can be used as an intermediate step between overseas desk research and a larger local investment.

MTA Vietnam 2026 Japan Pavilion Exhibitor List

Source: JETRO

Market research and industry insights

Trade exhibitions can also serve as short-term field research. Companies can observe competitors, discuss customer requirements and identify which product categories are attracting attention.

At Vietnam Medipharm Expo 2025, for example, visitor interest was concentrated in herbal products and medicines (25%), medical equipment (23%) and hospital services (15%). Meanwhile, 60% of visitors were importers or exporters[8]. Such information can help entrants better understand where commercial interest is concentrated and which types of partners are active in the market before making larger investments.

Sources: Vietnam Medipharm Expo 2025

Business matching

Major exhibitions are increasingly moving beyond passive booth visits toward buyer – seller matching.

Global Sourcing Fair Vietnam 2025 attracted 9,236 trade visitors, of which 25% were international buyers from 105 countries and regions. During the event, 628 customized one-to-one meetings connected 217 exhibitors with 61 international buyers. In parallel, 323 buyers completed 1,615 booth matchings through the event’s “Tour For More” program[9].

In addition to spontaneous booth traffic, companies can proactively arrange meetings with selected buyers or partners before the event. Structured matching therefore complements open exhibition traffic and helps exhibitors use limited onsite time more efficiently.

Global Sourcing Fair Vietnam 2025 Business Matching Lounge

Sources: Global Sourcing Fair Vietnam 2025

Brand promotion

For companies with limited recognition in Vietnam, exhibitions can provide an initial platform to build visibility among relevant industry stakeholders.

At Vietnam Cycle Expo 2025, Japanese manufacturer Izumi Chain, a company with a 110-year history, stated that one of its main objectives was to promote its brand, introduce its products directly to visitors, and increase awareness of the Izumi name in Vietnam. The company also used visitor questions and face-to-face discussions to better understand local customer needs[10]. This shows how exhibitions can support brand building and customer engagement at the same time, particularly for foreign companies still developing recognition in the Vietnamese market.

Izumi Chian’s feedback at Vietnam Cycle Expo 2025

Sources: SECC Reports

Educational opportunities

Trade exhibitions can also connect companies with the wider support system surrounding market entry. In addition to product displays and business matching, many exhibitions include seminars, policy discussions and industry forums involving government agencies, trade-promotion organizations, industry associations and specialists.

At Vietnam Expo 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Trade emphasized the role of large-scale trade-promotion activities in helping businesses promote products, expand markets and strengthen their participation in global value chains. The event also included specialized seminars, high-level forums and supply-demand connection activities, providing companies with opportunities to obtain market information and interact with organizations involved in business and trade support. Mr. Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, speaking at Vietnam Expo 2025. He highlighted the role of large-scale trade-promotion activities in helping businesses expand markets and strengthen their participation in global value chains[11].

Deputy Minister Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan at Vietnam Expo 2025

Source: Ministry of Industry and Trade Vietnam

Visiting or exhibiting: the objective should come first

Trade exhibitions are not automatically cost-effective. Exhibiting requires booth fees, construction, sample transportation, travel, staffing, interpretation, and follow-up resources. A company without a clear customer segment or localized value proposition may therefore gain more from first attending as a visitor.

A practical approach is:

B&Company’s synthesis

The key is to treat an exhibition as one step in a broader market-entry process rather than as an isolated marketing event.

How B&Company can support

At VIATT 2025, B&Company supported the VIP Buyer Business Matching Program by connecting Vietnamese garment companies with overseas textile suppliers from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Support included buyer screening, meeting arrangement, travel coordination, and on-site language assistance. As a result, B&Company successfully arranged more than 40 one-to-one meetings between Vietnamese buyers and international suppliers[12].

One example was Canifa JSC, whose participating team included senior representatives responsible for management, supply chain and quality. B&Company coordinated meetings with suitable overseas suppliers and supported the company throughout the exhibition, allowing the buyer to compare materials, discuss sourcing requirements and evaluate potential partners directly[13].

B&Company can support companies in using trade exhibitions as part of a broader Vietnam market entry process, including market research, exhibition selection, target-company identification, local interviews, partner screening, meeting arrangement and post-event follow-up.

Support can be customized according to each company’s objective, scale and budget—from strategic market exploration by large corporations to initial market hearings for SMEs. B&Company can also use its Vietnam enterprise database, covering around one million companies, to identify potential customers, distributors and business partners before the exhibition, while providing local coordination and communication support to bridge differences between Japanese and Vietnamese business practices.

Read more

Exploring the Collaborations with Foreign Suppliers in the Textile sector: Vietnamese enterprise’s strategic participation at VIATT 2026 with B&Company’s support (Part 1)

List of upcoming exhibitions in October 2026 in Vietnam

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References:

Cover photo: Vietnam News Agency (VNA)

[1] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mta-vietnam_mtavietnam-mtavietnam2026-mtavietnam2027-activity-7497986174838542336-VaG8/

[2] https://fbcasean.vn/en/manufacturing-trade-expo-fbc-asean-2026-hanoi/

[3] https://ictcomm.vn/ve-ictcomm/

[4] https://dl.secc.com.vn/photo/2025/12/23/2025-post-show-report-tieng-anh-1766458314311.pdf

[5] https://vietnamcycle.vn/bao-cao-trien-lam/#flipbook-df_3759/9/

[6] https://dl.secc.com.vn/photo/2026/01/14/eng-vietnam-ictcomm-2025-show-report-1768360500267.pdf

[7] https://www.jetro.go.jp/news/releases/2026/b943e27a15df8020.html

[8] https://dl.secc.com.vn/photo/2025/12/23/2025-post-show-report-tieng-anh-1766458314311.pdf

[9] https://dl.secc.com.vn/photo/2025/10/21/gsfvn-2025-post-show-report-english-small-1761028235010.pdf

[10] https://dl.secc.com.vn/photo/2026/02/11/cycle-2025-show-report-1770782369787.pdf

[11] https://moit.gov.vn/tin-tuc/hoat-dong/hoat-dong-cua-lanh-dao-bo/hoi-cho-thuong-mai-quoc-te-viet-nam-lan-thu-34-vietnam-expo-2025-co-hoi-hop-tac-trong-ky-nguyen-so.html

[12] https://b-company.jp/bcompany-supports-buyers-in-connecting-with-suppliers-in-garment-sector-at-viatt-2025/

[13] https://b-company.jp/a-vietnamese-enterprises-strategic-participation-at-viatt-2025-with-bcompany-support/