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Vietnam’s GDP growth is now second only to China, and New Zealand is its fastest growing trading partner.


Over 40 Kiwi businesses are currently taking advantage of the changing economic climate, including outdoor furniture manufacturer Steve Jenkins.

Tran Duc furniture employs around 3,000 people in three factories around Ho Chi Minh City and they are churning out container-loads of furniture ready for export.

“If you’d asked me when we built our first factory in 2000&’would we be looking now at producing 200 40ft containers a month?’ I would’ve said it would’ve been a big joke,” says Jenkins.

When the first factory opened they had just four months worth of orders, but the gamble has more than paid off for Jenkins and his Vietnamese business partner Tran Duc Lam.

“Eight years ago he didn’t even have a bike, he’s now one of the top businessmen in Ho Chi Min City,” says Jenkins.

Now they export the Malaysian hardwood furniture to Europe, the US, Australia and back to New Zealand where it sells in the Warehouse and Mitre 10.

Labour is cheap in Vietnam, the average wage is around $US100 a month, but for Jenkins it is the work ethic that drew him there over other Asian countries.

“Sky’s the limit in Vietnam, it’s a dynamic growing economy and the government are making things easier here now,” he says.

Tran Duc is now one of Vietnam’s biggest furniture exporters.