As part of its involvement with the AusHub, Summerfruit Australia Limited (SAL) and AusCham have engaged a full-time person to undertake the important work on the ground in Vietnam.

Summerfruit welcomed Thu Nguyen to the ‘Summerfruit team’ at the beginning of April 2023 as the Summerfruit industry representative in Vietnam.

Summerfruit CEO Trevor Ranford said, “Thu is a welcome addition to the ‘Summerfruit team’ and will add a lot of value to SAL and its work in building peach and nectarine trade and hopefully plums as well.”

He said Ms Nguyen brings the following experience:

- 15-years’ experience in project management

- Six-years’ experience in the role of an assistant to top leaders.

- Excellent project planning and procurement skills

- Background in business administration and linguistics

- Experience in market access for fruits (e.g., guava and pineapple from Taiwan)

- Qualitative market research

- Worked closely with Vietnamese officials and VCCI (Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry) to drive policy agenda

- Supply chain/cold chain network knowledge

- Engaged with fruit associations, customs agencies, and regional policy forums.

Mr Ranford said Ms Nguyen would be coming to Australia and will be part of Summerfruit’s ‘mini conference’ and the registration roadshow during May.

“We will use the time to network with growers, exporters and others to build the relationship and ensure the future development of the Australian Summerfruit categories within Vietnam. But also, to build a strong relationship between the stonefruit growers and industry organisations in Australian and Vietnam.”

He said an extensive work plan has already been formulated and will commence with market research in Vietnam with the purpose being to understand customer behavior, market segmentation, sales channels, promotions, profit margin, risks, regulations and customers' willingness to pay.

This will be undertaken through in-depth interviews with associations, government, testing laboratories, importers, cold chain operators, researchers, distributors, and retailers.