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Exporters exerting themselves to overcome difficulties
Export companies are not crying and waiting for support from the Government. They are struggling to overcome the current difficulties by seeking new outlets for their products.
Businesses are struggling to overcome the current difficulties by seeking new outlets for their products.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the $8 billion worth of export turnover in the first two months of the year was lower by 5% than that of the same period of the last year. Meanwhile, Vietnam is striving to reach the export turnover of $70.85 million in the whole year of 2009.
A lot of products have seen export turnover drop in the first two months of the year. Rubber, for example, decreased by 50.5%, electric wire and cable by 45%, woodwork 26.3%, apparel 12%, computer and accessories 13.7%, and seafood 6%.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien said that export turnover has decreased because of decreases in export volume and export prices. The prices of key export items including coffee, tea, rubber, cashew nuts and vegetables have dropped by 20-25% over the same period of the last year.
According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, the shrimp export turnover to the US dropped by 30.9% in February in comparison with the same period of the last year, while the export turnover to the EU is down by 18.3% and Canada 36.3%.
Regarding the woodwork exports, the consumption of the export markets has decreased by 25-30%, according to Nguyen Chien Thang, Chairman of the HCM City Fine Arts and Woodwork Processing Association.
Woodwork exports are predicted to continue facing many more challenges in the time to come, as the US, the biggest export market for Vietnam will apply Lacey law as of April 1, 2009, under which all the products to the market must show their origins.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s apparel exports will also face more difficulties as the US has removed the quota scheme for the imports from China, which also means that local companies will bear tougher competition.
Businesses have to rescue themselves
Thuan Phat Foodstuff Company has decided to lower export prices in order to retain foreign partners. Thuan Phat’s General Director Truong Mai Anh, said that the policy has helped the company gain a contract on exporting 60 40-feet containers to Russia (100,000 products per container).
Meanwhile, Agifish has been expanding export markets in the Middle East, South America and North Africa, which proves to have a lot of potential.
Duong Quoc Nam, Director of Hoang Nam Company, a woodwork exporter, said that the company has organized a lot of trips to seek new clients in traditional markets, but it could not gain any orders. Therefore, the company has decided to ‘conquer’ new markets like the Middle East, Laos and Cambodia. Hoang Nam accepts lower profit and allows deferred payment, which have persuaded several partners to consider its export offers.
In related news, the HCM City Trade and Investment Centre has launched a program on supporting the export of apparel products to the EU market, which will be applied to enterprises with 25-500 workers. The program is sponsored by the Government of the Netherlands.
VietNamNet, NLD
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