Industrial machine looks to muscle up

In the recent past, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) to concentrate efforts into tackling hardships to support production, business for domestic market expansion, set close eyes on imports, clear unsold stock and make the most of existing export markets to boost export growth in a sustainable manner.

Accordingly, transforming the economy’s structure in parallel with reforming the growth model, bettering productivity, quality, ramping up the production of items with high comparative advantages to boost exports, shielding domestic production will continue to be the sector’s central tasks in 2013.

This year, the industry and trade sector will rake in $126 billion in exports, surging 10 per cent against 2012 and report $136 billion in total import value and peg the rate of trade deficit over total export value at around 8 per cent.

To make these goals come true in the context the world economy is till in the fix with slow recovery in the global trade businesses are in urgent need for the industry and trade sector’s timely support, particularly in trade promotion searching for potential export markets.

Deputy chairman of Danang’s People’s Committee Phung Tan Viet expected businesses based in Danang would benefit more from the MoIT’s trade promotion programmes to help them widen output markets for their products.

Vietnam Petroleum Group chairman Bui Ngoc Bao said the long-lasting application of measures for market price stabilisation had put remarkable pressures on firms.

Accordingly, the group just posted VND20 billion ($950,000) profits from petroleum trading out of its VND1.050 trillion ($50 million) profits in 2012.

Bao proposed the state to maintain stable tax policies in 2013 to avoid putting extra burdens on firms.

Vietnam Association of Seafood Producers and Exporters (VASEP) secretary Truong Dinh Hoe said 2012 was the year the seafood sector posted slowest growth pace of just 0.7 per cent in the past years due to incurring trade barriers from import markets and firms’ shortages of capital.

Hence, VASEP proposes the MoIT to shortly devise plans and resort to support from foreign consultants to develop compatible trade promotion programmes to help broaden export markets.

Seafood businesses are also starved of credit support from the state to help them materialise set targets in 2013.