Swedish Businesses Expect Stronger F&B Cooperation from Vietnam Food Expo

Vietnam as a Strategic Market for the Global F&B Industry

The appeal of Vietnam Food Expo 2025 extends beyond the scale of the event. It is reinforced by the presence of Swedish brands, representing a country ranked among the world’s leaders in food safety, sustainability, and environmental performance. With a long-term vision and stringent standards, Swedish businesses view Vietnam as a fast-growing and highly promising market, particularly as the F&B sector reached nearly 27 billion USD in 2024, an increase of 16 percent.

As Vietnam accelerates global integration under the EVFTA, strengthens quality standards, and adopts greener production practices, Vietnam Food Expo has become an ideal platform for Sweden to advance cooperation. Many Swedish companies came to the event with strong expectations regarding the market, potential partners, and long-term collaboration.

Speaking with reporters from the Industry and Trade Newspaper, Henrik Thollander, Chief Executive Officer of ControlCert, a company specializing in food and environmental safety certifications, said that for ControlCert, Vietnam Food Expo 2025 is a golden opportunity to reach its target customers: Vietnamese businesses expanding exports of agricultural and processed food products to Europe and North America. CEO Thollander noted that Vietnam “is developing rapidly” and the exhibition is an “ideal platform” for ControlCert to introduce its global certification services such as ISO, HACCP, FSSC 22000, plant-based food standards, and environmental certifications like ISO 14001.

From ControlCert’s perspective, the main barrier for Vietnamese companies when exporting to the EU is not the market itself but the high-level quality and safety standards that exceed basic international requirements. Buyers in the Nordic region typically demand standards above the global minimum, which Vietnam can fully meet when supported by the right partners.

ControlCert aims to build long-term strategic partnerships, sign certification contracts with major producers, and collaborate with regulators and industry associations to create a stable service ecosystem. Beyond the exhibition, the company plans to establish a representative office and participate in training and capacity-building programs on international standards.

If ControlCert represents quality standards, Kallbergs stands for high-demand processing technology for egg-based ingredients, a field requiring strict control over safety, traceability, and sustainability. With flagship products such as egg powder, choux pastry premix, and Mayo-Max, Kallbergs joined Vietnam Food Expo 2025 with two strategic goals: building partnerships and gathering market insights.

Fredrik, Deputy Managing Director of Kallbergs, stated that Kallbergs’ operating philosophy reflects Swedish values, emphasizing waste reduction, energy efficiency, and circular economy models. The company eliminated the use of oil in 2015, shifting to LPG and district heating, and reduced CO₂ emissions by over 30 percent through heat-recovery systems. Eggshells from processing are reused as livestock feed, contributing to a closed-loop lifecycle for raw materials.

With RSPO certification for sustainable palm oil—an important component in some of its products—Kallbergs offers Vietnamese businesses access to ingredients that are both safe and fully aligned with EU sustainability standards.
Kallbergs’ greatest expectation after the exhibition is to establish a strategic distribution network in Vietnam and initiate R&D partnerships to support Vietnamese producers in optimizing formulations, improving texture, extending shelf life, and meeting rising consumer expectations.

Across the F&B value chain, Tetra Pak plays an indispensable role, from processing to packaging. Nguyen Thanh Giang, Managing Director of Tetra Pak Vietnam, which supplies packaging solutions to the food sector, emphasized that participating in Vietnam Food Expo 2025 with the Try Swedish Pavilion allows Tetra Pak to bring Swedish technology closer to Vietnamese businesses. It also enables deeper cooperation at a time when the global food system is under increasing pressure from climate change and shifting consumer behavior.

Tetra Pak highlights three cooperation priorities. First, ensuring food safety through UHT technology, which enables products to achieve up to 12 months of shelf life without preservatives. Second, innovating packaging to meet environmental standards and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requirements, using cartons made of 70 percent paper, paper straws, recycled plastic caps, and plant-based polymers. Third, promoting the circular economy through a nationwide network of 1,300 collection points, five collection partners, and three recycling facilities.

Tetra Pak’s participation at the exhibition is not merely about showcasing technology. It is about building strategic partnerships and supporting Vietnamese businesses in upgrading the entire value chain, from product ideation and testing to processing and packaging.

With flexible formats and capacities, Tetra Pak’s technologies are particularly suitable for businesses targeting younger consumers, a segment that prioritizes health and sustainability.

High Expectations from Swedish Companies

Looking only at market size cannot fully explain why Sweden—one of the strictest countries in the world in terms of food safety and sustainability—considers Vietnam Food Expo a key event.

According to company representatives, the first reason is Vietnam’s rapid transition toward international standards. F&B exporters must elevate their standards to maintain access to global markets. ControlCert sees rising demand for certification; Kallbergs sees opportunities to supply EU-standard ingredients; and Tetra Pak sees increasing demand for clean processing and sustainable packaging.

Second, Vietnam’s economy is entering a phase of green consumption. Younger consumers demand transparent origins, sustainable packaging, and responsible production processes, creating an ideal environment for Nordic businesses.
Third, Vietnam is one of the region’s strongest growth markets in F&B, with high demand for supply chain expansion, product innovation, and technology adoption.

This alignment means Swedish companies’ expectations at Vietnam Food Expo 2025 go far beyond the event itself. They point toward deeper and long-term cooperation.

ControlCert, Kallbergs, and Tetra Pak share a common strategy: long-term investment, local presence, training partnerships, R&D collaboration, distribution network development, and upgrading industry standards.

If these plans are carried out, Vietnam will benefit significantly through improved quality standards for deeper market access in Europe, access to clean and green technologies aligned with emission-reduction goals, and the development of a sustainable F&B value chain from raw materials to packaging.

Vietnam Food Expo 2025 is therefore not only a meeting point for Vietnamese and Swedish businesses but also the starting point of a strategic collaboration that is practical, long-term, and sustainable.