Tien Giang restructures economy

Workers produce garment and textile products for export at My Tho Garment JSC in the southern province of Tien Giang.

Under the strategies, the province will raise the proportion of manufacturing and construction to 48.5 per cent from 33 per cent; trade and services to 36.5 per cent from 32 per cent, but decrease the ratio of the agro-forestry and seafood sector to 15 per cent from 35 per cent.

It will give priorities to expanding industrial zones and diversifying and developing high-tech products while focusing on its competitive areas such as shipbuilding, farm produce, seafood processing and handicrafts.

Tien Giang is expected to have eight industrial zones and 30 small industrial complexes with a combined area of 8,750ha by 2020.

The province plans to post an annual growth rate of 18 per cent in industrial production from 2011-20, generating 320,000 jobs.

In terms of trade and services, it will promote trade domestically and globally; develop island, historical ecotourism; construct resorts along with recreation and entertainment centres; and enhance services such as transportation, information and technology, science, finance, banking and insurance.

It is estimated to reach an export value of $1.8 billion by 2020, compared to this year's target of $580 million. Last year, Tien Giang earned $580 million in export turnover from its main staples of garments, rice, fruit and seafood.

The seafood sector with around 15 enterprises was the major foreign currency earner for the province, making up $200 million of the total, 80 per cent of which came from tra fish.

Go Dang JSC took the lead with a value of $30 million, exporting 15,000 tonnes of processed seafood to 50 countries.

The province has more than 60,000ha of fruit orchards with a yield of more than 1 million tonnes per annum. The high export value fruit include green pomelo, longan, Hoa Loc sweet mango and Lo Ren star apple.

Vinh Kim Co-operative exported 10 tonnes of Lo Ren star apples to the Singaporean and British markets while the Global Gap standards and value for the contracts were 20-30 per cent higher than that of the local market. The co-operative has already signed a number of new deals for this year.

Dang Van Du, chief the Hoa Loc Sweet Mango Co-operative's control board, said that his co-operative signed contracts to export 100 tonnes of the mango to Japan in 2011.

The mango met VietGap standards and it was expected that after Tet, it would deliver the first batch to Japan, he said.

The co-operative exported 100 tonnes of the mango to Japan worth VND2.2 billion ($105,000) last year.

Provincial authorities attributed the positive performance to their open policies, and the successful organisation of an investment promotion conference and the first Viet Nam Fruit Festival last year.