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Trade villages overcoming crisis with sideline careers
The global economic crisis has distressed many businesses and trade villages which specialize in making products for export. Many of them have to take sideline careers to earn their living and survive the current difficulties.
Sideline careers, not main jobs, feeding businesses
The pottery production in Vinh Long once made a great contribution to the province’s industry development. At the golden age, there were some 100 pottery businesses, which employed several thousands labourers.
However, the global economic crisis has broken out and made the skillful workers redundant, made material prices go up and exports go down, pushing many businesses against the wall.
In order to survive the difficulties, a lot of pottery companies have to use the idle premises for husbandry and plantations, getting money from the sideline jobs to feed themselves.
Thach, the owner of Tu Thach Pottery Enterprise in Mang Thit district in Vinh Long province cooperated with the Thailand-based CP Group to build several chicken farms, breeding chickens in air-conditioned farms in order to avoid the bird flu. Each of the farms has between 12-14,000 chickens. It is estimated that each farm can bring the turnover of VND 70 million from every crop.
In 2008, Tu Thach Enterprise built ten more chicken farms, developing the model of breeding chickens with high technology. Despite the bird flu epidemics, its chicken farms can still bring a large profit to the owners, helping them survive the global economic crisis and wait for the golden age of the pottery industry to return.
Trade villages now pay more attention to renovating technology to overcome difficulties. The Son Doc banh phong (glutinous rice chupatty) in Ben Tre province has used machines instead of manual works, which has helped make products quicker and the products meet higher hygiene standards. The Dinh Yen sedge mat village has cut 50% of the workforce after it has shifted to make products with machines, which allows the launching of high quality and competitive products.
Eyeing domestic market
Renovating production and eyeing the domestic market are considered by trade villages as a good solution for now.
Like the Vinh Long Pottery trade village, the Chau Phong brocade textile village in Tan Chau district in An Giang province is famous in Vietnam. And like Vinh Long, Tan Chau has also been facing big challenges in the crisis.
In order to overcome difficulties, Chau Giang has decided to target the domestic market, selling products to tourists. Fifty product items of the company are being displayed at tourist sites, hotels, and trade fairs. Therefore, more than 200 textile workers in Chau Phong still have jobs with the traditional career.
The woodwork trade villages in Dong Nai province, HCM City and Ba Ria – Vung Tau, which have been well known in foreign markets, have also returned to the domestic market by producing low cost products to attract domestic buyers.
Luu Duy Dan, Chairman of the Vietnam Trade Villages’ Association, said that in the current difficult period, the domestic market proves to be the good solution for the trade villages’ products. The most important thing is that the quality of the products must be competitive with import products which have lower or equal prices.
Ho Thi Tham, Deputy Chairwoman of the Vinh Long Pottery Association, said that businesses have been taking many initiatives to survive the difficulties and wait for the new opportunities to come. Tham said that a lot of pottery enterprises in the province are breeding pigs, catching fish, and farming chickens, any jobs which can bring money.
VietNamNet/VnMedia
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