IMPORTING VIETNAM POTTERY: A COMPLETE GUIDE

Billions of dollars in Vietnam pottery, pots and planters is exported from Vietnam each year. Pottery imported from Vietnam is in growing demand for pots dealers. Consumers appreciate the good quality and affordable price points of Vietnam pottery. Learn how to import pots and planters to grow your business.

POTENTIAL OF IMPORTING POTTERY FROM VIETNAM

Beside China, Vietnam is one of the world’s largest pottery exporter. Pottery from Vietnam is famous because they can last a lifetime and beyond. Many pots sellers visit Vietnam to finding products at wholesale prices. Peoples would think that purchasing this pottery is near to impossible as the main thoughts that come to mind when referring to importing flower pots from Asia is low-quality products and components, cheap-priced, often copied designs with total disregard to intellectual property and mass production without attention to details.

90% of these international brands who selling pots don’t have their own production facilities but rather sub-contract the production to a panel of local suppliers that can deliver the quality standards that are required from them. In the pottery industry, that it is easy to work directly with a pottery manufacturer that is already recognized internationally for the quality of the pots produced. Knowing that you are purchasing a good pot from a factory that is selling the same thing to another customers is a guarantee that you will receive the same quality that is being acclaimed by western consumers.

You are able to access pottery factories, purchase at wholesale prices and mix different items made by different producers into one container opens a whole world of possibilities.

WHAT KIND OF POTTERY WILL BRING YOU BUSINESS?

When sourcing pottery manufacturers online, there’s a variety of factors to use when assessing potential candidate suppliers.

Product Scope

Manufacturers producing all sorts of pots under one roof doesn’t exist. As in the case of every industry, pottery manufacturers are always specialized in a certain area – with the following being the most common:

• Glazed ceramic pots
• Atlantis pots
• Terracotta pots
• Cement pots
• Polystone, fiberglass pots
• Wicker pots
• Zinc pots.

While you may find a manufacturer specializing in more than one category, you’ll never find a manufacturer offering the whole spectrum. If you need to cover more than one type of pots, you shall, therefore, consider sourcing different groups of suppliers, rather than trying to find one that offers everything on your list.

WHERE TO FIND POTTERY MANUFACTURERS AND SUPPLIERS IN VIETNAM?

Most suppliers of a certain product are grouped together in one area. This concept makes it easy for importers to source products from Vietnam. If you are sourcing pots planters from Vietnam, here are the places you need to look into:

Binh Duong, Vietnam – Vietnam pottery capital

About 350 pottery producers with an annual production of about 50 milions USD based in Binh Dương. In the past 10 years Foshan has produced 70% of Vietnam’s total plant pots output.

With long production experience makes Binh Duong the leading pots producer in Vietnam. Binh Duong pottery suppliers continuously work on improving the designs of their pots.

Dong Nai, Vietnam

Since 1900s the quality of tiles produced in Dong Nai have improved tremendously. The cost advantage of the province has been attracting foreign buyers. Dong Nai pottery exports have reached record highs making it rank as the second province in Vietnam in terms of pottery exports.

Comparing with Binh Duong pottery, Dong Nai is not so high quality but with some special finished on atlantis pots, they still get more and more customer.

HOW TO FIND POTTERY SUPPLIERS FROM VIETNAM ONLINE?

If you want to import pottery from Vietnam, the internet is your easiest option to find suppliers. Suppliers may be classified either as factories or traders. Of course it would be cheaper to source pots directly from factories although at times it can be difficult to discern which supplier is a factory or a trader.

In the internet, you will find B2B market places for pots from Vietnam, the most reliable of which are alibaba.com . Searching through these platforms will give you a wide choice of supplier 

Pottery suppliers On Alibaba

Alibaba.com is the world’s largest B2B supplier directory. Here, you will find thousands of pottery factories, wholesalers and trading companies.

In my opinion, you should narrow down your supplier selection to those that are proper manufacturers, rather than trading companies or wholesalers. The easiest way to be sure is by flying to Vietnam and work with suppliers.  But, you can also use the information provided by Alibaba.com to narrow down your supplier list:

• Company name.
• Capacity.
• Number of worker.
• Company certificates: ISO 9001, BSCI, Sedex

Some manufacturers also provide factory audit reports on their Alibaba.com profile, which are free to download. These are issued by highly reputable third parties, such as Intertek or Bureau Veritas.

Search Engine

You can search for products from anywhere in the control panel by using the search bar at the top of Google or Bing..

Check to see if you’re working with a manufacturer, trade company or wholesaler. A manufacturer is the factory that originally made the item. A trade company is a middle-man between a pottery manufacturer/factory and you. Neither is better than the other, they both have advantages and disadvantages. The advantage with a manufacturer is that you’re going straight to the source and it’s usually cheaper. On the other hand, a trade company usually charges more since they make a commission on the sale, but their reps usually speak better English which makes communication much better (sometimes they can negotiate lower prices than if you were buying straight from the manufacturer as well so it’s good to check even if you are price sensitive)

When sourcing pottery from Vietnam, you could either do the entire process yourself or work with a sourcing agent. A sourcing agent could be an individual or a firm based in Vietnam who could do the legwork for you. Sourcing agents could help you source suppliers, negotiate prices, place orders and monitor deliveries.

PROBLEMS YOU MAY HAVE WHEN IMPORT POTTERY FROM VIETNAM!

However there are many pitfalls and every day, many buyers are disappointed by what promised to be a great transaction and that turned out to be a nightmare with dire financial consequences. It is essential to have a network of trusted and dependable pottery manufacturers whose factories and capabilities you have tried and proved through a solid and durable relationship. Trying to make a quick transaction by purchasing planters from a plant pot factory that you hardly know because you are tempted by the incredibly low prices is the first step to having an unsuccessful transaction.

Quality Issues When Purchasing Vietnam pottery

Quality issues are a recurrent and daunting problem for most inexperienced pot plant buyers in Vietnam. Being unable to have somebody you can trust to inspect your order before shipment will frequently lead to receiving a container at your home port or warehouse that will despair you when you see what pottery you have just imported from Vietnam.

To successfully import vietnam pottery, plant pots from Vietnam, it is mandatory to be able to perform QC (quality controls) process, not only before shipment of the goods but during the production of these goods so you can detect defects and other production issues as they appear.

Quality issues can be apparent and easily detected if you have the means to carry out an inspection before the packing your container. Some other issues only appear later on, after the container. To avoid this, a thorough knowledge and control of the components and the processes used to produce the pottery you are importing are essential has been delivered to your clients, sometimes a long time after.

Packaging Quality And Packing Pots For Import From Vietnam

Packaging and packing pots for export is another essential dimension for the success of your purchase of garden pots in Vietnam. Depending on your logistics flow, packaging will have to be adapted to ensure that there is no damage to your plant pot, either inside the container during sea transportation or later on, upon arrival at the port of destination or during the distribution process by truck to your warehouse or to your customer’s location.

Container Packing Options Available For Shipping Pottery

Hand Load:

Hand load is preferable where a carton or product weighs 16kgs or less. This creates minimal waste and the most efficient unload. The heaviest boxes should be on the bottom of the container and lightest on the top. This is to avoid crushing or product damage.

Wooden Pallets:

Pots loaded on pallets, covered by plastic film and fastered again by strings.  Shipping marks applied and ready for being loaded into container. Pallets hauled and load into container by folklift. Pallets fastened again after fully loaded container by string to prevent falling upon door open.

MINIMUM ORDER QUANTITIES (MOQ)FOR A POTS ORDER

If you wish to purchase directly from pottery manufacturer, you will have most certainly come across this issue. MOQs will vary depending on the planter pot factory and especially depending on the pot production process and materials that are used. While most pottery factories have been adapting to supplying smaller quantities, an MOQ is still essential for factories to optimize production costs (adjusting machines to cut and assemble different pieces, changing print patterns or colors, etc.). The molds cost is the big deal when you work in Vietnam, almost supplier never keep these designs on stock, that why when you place an order they will start to make a new molds. Buying raw materials in large quantities leads to reduced prices but this doesn’t mean that the factory will want to store the raw materials/components on their site, so it is one more reason to demand an MOQ. Workers are also more efficient making many units of the same kind than switching from one model to another during a shift.

For pottery products, the MOQ usually set at 1x 20’ full container, you can mix 5-10 designs pots into container depend on model and your relationship with that factory. In general terms, the bigger the quantities, the more leverage you will have to negotiate a lower price with the pottery manufacturers.

Production lead-time for producing a pots order

This will also depend on the raw materials, production process and product composition. If molds are not readily available, you might have to endure a lengthy wait just to get these, before production can begin. If factories need to make a new mold, this can take from a couple of weeks to a month.

But you can follow the our list time for each kind of products:

Ceramic pots: 75-90 days

Cement and poly pots: 45-60 days

Terracotta pots: 75-90 days.

SHIPPING POTTERY FROM VIETNAM

Ocean freight is the only cost-effective transportation option when importing pottery from Vietnam. You can either opt for a full container (e.g. FCL 20”) or LCL, meaning that you’ll share container spaces with one or more importers.

Export packaging materials

High-quality packaging materials are essential when shipping planter pot. Stacked units can easily crush those at the bottom, and sharp edges and cut through cover fabrics on the long journey on the sea.

Further, planter pots must always be loaded on ISPM pallets.

It’s crucial that you provide clear visual and written instructions to your supplier, detailing how they should pack your pots, and which materials they should use.

Insurance

Freight insurance is equally essential, as you cannot return damaged pieces to your supplier, or request a refund.