Ailing Vietnam’s supporting industries

Vietnam’s supporting industries are still weak, leading to key industrial sectors’ heavy reliance on imported materials and components, according to delegates at a conference.

“One of the main reasons for the low added value of Vietnam’s industrial products is the supporting industries’ weakness,” Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang said at the 1st National Conference on creating an “Action Plan for the Development of Vietnam’s Supporting Industries.”

Some 70-80 percent of supporting products for local sectors, including the textile, garment, footwear, and automobile sectors, are imports, according to a report released at the conference.

“It is hard to find local suppliers [of supporting products] which meet our requirements and expectations in terms of quality, cost, delivery and reliability,” said Nobuhiko Murakami, President of Toyota Motor Vietnam.

The weakness of supporting industries has prevented the added value of local industrial products from increasing, and has negatively affected foreign direct investment (FDI), said delegates at the conference.

They also blamed the industries’ weakness on shortcomings in human resource development, slowness in advanced technology application, and limited investment.

Vietnam should further promote supporting industries, which create 80-95 percent of the added value of industrial sectors, said the minister of industry and trade.

“Intensive and strategic efforts are needed to develop supporting industries through the combination of local supplier promotion and FDI attraction,” said Murakami.

According to the conference, Vietnam should develop supporting industries in five key sectors - electronics and informatics, textile and garment, leather and footwear, automobile production, and manufacturing.

The country should offer stronger assistance to supporting industries in terms of infrastructure, and tax and investment, the delegates said, adding that it is necessary to allow concerned businesses better access to bank loans and information.

Thanhnien

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