Nam Kim Steel honoured at Vietnam Value Programme 2020

Nam Kim Steel was honoured at Vietnam Value Programme 2020 for its handling of COVID-19

The steel and coated steel manufacturing sector in the domestic market suffered a negative impact by the pandemic that caused an oversupply. Nam Kim Steel was not untouched by the difficulties as numerous countries went into lockdown from March to May. The impact lasted until the third quarter.

Vo Hoang Vu, general director of Nam Kim Steel said that the company faces difficulties in reaching the target of 700,000 tonnes of steel in consumption this year. The group has reduced its targets to VND12 trillion ($521.74 million) in revenue, slightly down against 2019, but VND200 billion ($8.7 million) in after-tax profit, up sharply on-year.

Hoang Vu said that the group will focus on completing its targets, including expanding its retail system and distribution channels. Besides this, the group will study and manufacture the high-end segment.

Nam Kim Steel uses modern technology and equipment frtom the world’s leading corporations in the steel industry, including SMS (Germany) and Drever (Belgium). The company sources raw materials from well-known and enormous suppliers such as Nippon Steel (Japan), Hyundai Steel (Korea), CSC (Taiwan), and Formosa (Vietnam).

At all stages of production, its products are subject to severe quality control processes. Thereby, the group has achieved certificates of the strictest qualified standards in the world such as JIS (Japan), AS (Australia), ASTM (US), EN (Europe), ISO 9001, and ISO 14001.

The Vietnam Value Programme, during the past 17 years, has contributed to improving the awareness of the business community about the role of building a brand for their companies and products via offering quality, innovation, and pioneering capacity. Many of these enterprises have established leading positions in their sectors and maintained high-speed growth in both revenue and profit.

The programme has no limits for the number of participating businesses and registered products, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade always encourages enterprises to meet the criteria and apply for selection. This year’s selection took place in a special situation, as many companies have been dealing with the pandemic.

Nam Kim Steel honoured at Vietnam Value Programme 2020 (source: tonnamkim.com)

2020, the first time the Vietnam Value Programme has been implemented according to Decision No.30/2019/QD-TTg dated October 8, 2019 on promulgating regulations on building, managing, and implementing the Vietnam National Brand Programme.

Mr. Vu Ba Phu, General Director of Trade Promotion Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that after 17 years of implementing the program of voting national brands of seven brands, we have witnessed the continuous growth of many domestic enterprises.

By 2018, this had grown to 97, and this year we have registered 124 businesses and their brands.

However, the growth of the business community is not only in the number of enterprises participating, but also in exports, sales, contributions to the state budget, as well as their efforts in social responsibility. and job creation.

At the first selection in 2008, we saw only 30 selected companies with their products. By 2018, this had grown to 97, and this year we have registered 124 businesses and their brands.

However, the growth of the business community is not only in the number of enterprises participating, but also in exports, sales, contributions to the state budget, as well as their efforts in social responsibility. and job creation.

For example, the national brand recognized enterprise in 2018 achieved revenue of about 907 trillion VND (39.4 billion USD), export turnover reached 130 trillion VND (5.6 billion USD), contributing 85 trillion VND (3.7 billion USD) to the state budget and created 340,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, this year, those figures have increased to 975 trillion dong (42.4 billion USD) and 123 trillion dong (5.34 billion USD) by 2020, with the amount contributed to the bank. State books amounted to 179 trillion VND (8.5 billion USD) and 350,000 new jobs were created - all despite the pandemic.

Vu Ba Phu also said that, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has supported businesses in difficulty. After the first months of the health crisis, the domestic market was redefined.

Right from the beginning of the year, following the direction of the Government, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has worked with ministries, branches and localities to implement supply-demand activities across the country to remove difficulties for businesses in production. and distribution.

In addition, to support businesses with high quality brands, we have also been integrating selected brands into national promotions such as the Clean Food Program to vote Vietnamese products for local people.

The integration of such programs has helped grow the domestic market since the beginning of the year, despite the economic consequences of the pandemic. This shows that the communication, promotion and support efforts of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and its agencies so far have been effective.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade also published Circular No.33/2019/TT-BCT regulating the criteria system which, among others, states that the intellectual property of companies participating in the programme must be protected and that all registering enterprises must be the owner thereof.

Dr. Le Ngoc Lam, former deputy director general of the National Office of Intellectual Property under the Ministry of Science and Technology, said, this year, most of the registered enterprises had been aware of the importance of intellectual property rights (IPRs).

The programme requires businesses and their products to meet certain criteria concerning quality, innovation, and creativity. However, the appraisal process of participating enterprises shows that many of them have confused the programme with pure awards for their brands.

As companies register for the programme, they must make certain investments to achieve the requirements, which are meant to prove consistency with their development.

Saying so does not mean that enterprises can rely on their brands and that the quality of their products is guaranteed forever, which is the reason why the programme is run every two years, with some of its processes and criteria changing and adapting to recent developments.

Lam said, enterprises need to be aware of this, as branding and maintaining one’s brand names is a challenge.