From durians and milk to fertilizers, many Vietnamese commodities are expanding into the Cambodian, Laotian, and Thai markets thanks to geographical advantages and low costs. However, as the door opens both ways, competitive pressure right on the home turf is also rising accordingly.

A shipment of Vietnamese durians traveling "against the current" to Thailand when the country has passed its peak harvest season. A carton of milk bearing a Vietnamese corporate brand being sold in Phnom Penh. A bag of fertilizer from the Mekong Delta following a truck to rice, rubber, and cashew growing areas in Cambodia...

These are concrete images of the landlocked Southeast Asian trade connectivity taking place every day, turning Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand into "nearby markets" in the truest sense for Vietnamese enterprises.

Opened roads, shaping supply chains

The routes from Vietnam to Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand—along with the East-West Economic Corridor and Mekong cooperation mechanisms—are directly impacting agricultural prices, logistics costs, and corporate competitiveness.

In the South, the Ho Chi Minh City - Tay Ninh, Dong Thap, An Giang - Phnom Penh - Bangkok axis is a vital transportation route for agricultural products, processed foods, consumer goods, fertilizers, and agricultural inputs.

In the Central region, the East-West Economic Corridor opens additional paths for goods from Quang Tri, Hue, and Da Nang to penetrate deep into the landlocked market.

The attraction of a nearby market is that enterprises can take it step by step. With distant markets, they must prepare large orders, high standards, long transportation times, and higher inventory and payment risks. With Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, enterprises can test the waters with small shipments, check customer reactions, adjust packaging, find distribution channels, and then expand.

In Phnom Penh, Vietnamese goods have achieved recognition in the groups of processed foods, spices, coffee, milk, beverages, and confectionery.

Vinamilk with Angkor Milk is a typical example: instead of merely exporting milk from Vietnam, the enterprise invested in a factory, built the brand locally, and developed distribution systems and products tailored to local tastes—turning a nearby market into a long-term part of its business space.

Agricultural products and fertilizers open the way together

Vietnamese durians, bananas, mangoes, dragon fruits, pomelos, coffee, pepper, processed foods, milk, and fertilizers all possess advantages in the Mekong market.

The first advantage is geography: from the Mekong Delta, Central Highlands, and Southeast region to Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, the shipping distance is much shorter than to distant markets. The second advantage is the similarity in tastes, consumption habits, and agricultural seasons.

Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen - General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association - stated that around June, Thailand's durian production drops sharply while Vietnam enters its main harvest season.

This is the time when Vietnamese goods have the opportunity to step deeper into the regional market, and many enterprises have exported frozen durians back to Thailand in large volumes. Not only durians, but Vietnam has also increased exports of longans, lychees, and pomelos to Thailand by sea.

Recently, due to trade relations with Thailand facing difficulties, Cambodia has increased its imports of fruits and vegetables from Vietnam, such as dragon fruits, durians, and Cat Loc mangoes. Conversely, Vietnam imports sliced cassava, mangoes, and many other agricultural products from Cambodia in large quantities.

Mr. Nguyen assessed: "Southeast Asia is both a source of supply and a vast market. With the advantage of close proximity and multiple transport modes, if utilized well, intra-regional trade will continue to grow strongly."

Not only fruits and vegetables, but other commodity sectors also see a growing role for neighboring markets.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Hoa - Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Cashew Association - said that each year Vietnam imports about 1 million tons of raw cashews, accounting for over 30% of the volume used for processing, in which the supply from Cambodia is becoming increasingly important.

"The raw cashew supply from Cambodia plays a very crucial role for the Vietnamese cashew industry. Many enterprises have gone to Cambodia to link up and expand raw material areas," Mr. Hoa said.

Similarly, a representative of the Vietnam Pepper and Spice Association stated that Cambodia is a major supplier of raw pepper to Vietnam with steadily increasing output and improved quality, and many raw material areas adjacent to the border are being cooperatively developed by enterprises of both countries.

In the agricultural input group, Ca Mau Fertilizer is embedding itself deeply into nearby markets.

Mr. Van Tien Thanh - Chairman of the Board of Directors of PetroVietnam Ca Mau Fertilizer Joint Stock Company - stated that the company targets exports to account for 25 - 30% of total output, in which Cambodia is a strategic target market with 7 major distributors already established, covering key regions, and its urea market share currently exceeds 40%.

The fertilizer story shows that to go far, Vietnamese goods cannot just sell products—the bag of fertilizer must go hand in hand with dealerships, technical consulting, and crop nutrition solutions.

Not just selling goods, but organizing chains

From policy to reality, there is still a gap. Mr. Tran Bao Son - General Director of Thaco Agri - argued that Mekong sub-regional cooperation mechanisms open massive opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises, especially in agriculture and consumer goods. However, some enterprises investing in Laos and Cambodia still face snags in customs clearance, inspection, incurred costs, and waiting times at border gates. Procedures for laborers and experts are also not yet favorable.

"Cooperation agreements need to be accompanied by specific action programs to support businesses. If barriers are removed, Vietnam will gain another major advantage in building regional supply chains," Mr. Son said. Thaco Agri is currently investing in large-scale raw material areas in both Laos and Cambodia, organizing them into a cross-border chain: growing areas, factories, logistics, processing, and markets are linked together.

In a context where domestic agricultural land funds are increasingly limited, this model—investing in raw material areas in the partner country, bringing them back to Vietnam for deep processing, and then connecting to export markets—can create a significant competitive advantage.

For small and medium enterprises, cooperatives, and farmers, the Mekong market, despite being nearby, is still not easy to reach. A fruit cooperative wanting to sell to Cambodia or Thailand needs many things beyond a tasty product: growing area codes, post-harvest processes, packaging, labeling, quarantine documents, refrigerated trucks, distributors, price information, and secure payment methods.

A representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Association of Small and Medium Enterprises argued that there remains plenty of room to increase connectivity, yet enterprises need more specific support policies: agricultural logistics hubs near border gates, shared cold storage, fast-track processing lanes for fresh goods, and support for certification, traceability, and credit for the cold chain.

When Vietnamese goods travel to Phnom Penh, Bangkok, and Vientiane more smoothly, Thai, Cambodian, and Laotian goods also enter Vietnam more easily. Vietnamese consumers are already familiar with Thai goods from processed foods and beverages to fruits—eye-catching packaging, stable quality, and clear branding.

Cambodia and Laos are also not just consumer markets: as regional infrastructure improves, goods from these countries can enter Vietnam at more competitive costs. "To effectively exploit this market, Vietnamese enterprises must change according to customer tastes, increase processed products, and diversify product lines to avoid duplication," a representative of an exporting enterprise remarked.

Vietnam's trade with neighboring markets

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam is currently Cambodia's third-largest trading partner and its largest partner within ASEAN. In the past year, fruits and vegetables exported to Cambodia surged by 258.7%, and coffee rose by 251.3%. With Laos, the total turnover between the two countries reached 3 billion USD, up 32.7% compared to the same period in 2024.

Thailand is Vietnam's largest trading partner in ASEAN, with both countries aiming for a turnover target of 25 billion USD; in the first four months of 2026, the total turnover reached 8.6 billion USD, up 25%. With Timor-Leste, this remains a small market. In the first 4 months of 2026, bilateral trade turnover reached 4.8 million USD, up 7.3%.

Similar goods can still complement each other

Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen argued that thanks to regional trade agreements, especially the ASEAN - China Free Trade Agreement, the export of fruits and many other commodities of Vietnam into ASEAN and vice versa has become more favorable, including tariff advantages.

The close distance and lower logistics costs compared to distant markets also help intra-regional trade run smoothly.

Although the countries share many similar items such as mangoes, longans, durians, and dragon fruits, diverse culinary demands allow goods to still complement each other. However, this very similarity also makes competition fiercer. Many countries tend to protect domestic production using technical barriers, particularly plant quarantine.

For processed goods, some markets with large Muslim populations also require Halal certification. According to Mr. Nguyen, ASEAN is a potential market with diverse consumer demands and a scale of hundreds of millions of people, but to exploit it well, enterprises need to be supported in meeting standards, overcoming technical barriers, accessing market information, and transforming production to upgrade product quality.

Source: Tuoi Tre Online