Countering COVID-19 headwinds to manage export growth

Vietnam achieved high export growth in many markets in the first four months despite COVID-19

Despite facing disruptions in export orders fro partners in the EU, the US, or Japan, Vietnam’s exports picked up 4.7 per cent in value, touching approximately $83 billion.

Despite adversity, several businesses have managed to achieve stable export orders through changing production modes and taking smart adaptive measures.

Unlike the shortage of orders businesses are seeing in big export sectors, from the outset of 2020 until present privately-held An Phat Holdings (APH) have clinched new export orders with customers in Japan and Europe in the compostable bag export segment.

This came in the wake of a well-conceived business strategy being deployed much earlier by the company.

According to APH’s general director Dinh Xuan Cuong, changing the product structure towards employing cutting-edge and environmentally friendly technologies in packaging production is quite useful during the pandemic.

Consequently, the company has still managed growth in both market share and revenue in the compostable bag segment, and gained new orders mostly from EU partners.

Compostable bags are one of APH's core products, with almost all products going to export.

The products have made forays in the EU, Australia, Japan, and the US, of which the EU took the lead by making up 50 per cent of the company’s compostable plastic bag revenue last year.

When it comes to fruit exports, before the May 1 holiday, Vina T&T Group exported by air more than 10 containers of mangos, thanh long (dragon fruit), and rambutan to Los Angeles and New York in the US.

According to the company’s director Nguyen Dinh Tung, the company had faced many difficulties as at the time both the US and the EU closed their borders to prevent the epidemic.

The company has taken measures to adapt. Last month (April), Vina T&T Group had managed stable exports of fresh fruits by both air and sea routes to make up for the shortfall in export volume in the month prior.

Meanwhile, Dong Giao Foodstuff Export JSC (Doveco), a leading fresh and processed agricultural product export firm in Vietnam, has managed stable operations with a sharp rise in processed volumes to serve export orders to Japan and the EU.

A Doveco executive said that the company’s products are processed following the latest Japan technology. After being frozen, the products are preserved at -18 degrees Celsius, ensuring their freshness for as long as two years.

Regarding Vietnam’s export business in the first four months of this year, Tran Thanh Hai, deputy head of the Export Import Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that despite COVID-19, exports still registered growth in major markets.

The US continued to top Vietnam’s export markets in this four-month period with a 13.4 per cent jump to reach $20.3 billion. China came second with a 26.7 per cent hike touching $13.1 billion, and Japan placed third with $6.7 billion in export value, up 10.1 per cent.

Significantly, many markets in the Americas witnessed robust growth in imports from Vietnam, as exports to Mexico picked up 61 per cent, to Chile 93 per cent, to Argentina 55 per cent, to Panama 73 per cent, and to Peru 82 per cent.