Most businesses which suffered damages in southern industrial zones have so far resumed their productions, according to the Vietnam Economic News on June 2.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has provided timely guidance to stabilise investment and import, export activities, making foreign businesses feel secure about their operations in Vietnam.

The Formosa Group’s steel projects are in the process of overcoming the damage and gradually resuming operations while bauxite projects in Dak Nong and Lam Dong provinces are operating normally, the online newspaper said.

The Viet Trung Minerals and Metallurgy Company Limited produced its first batch of 50 tonnes of cast iron on May 26, 2014. The company said that experts were examining the quality of cast iron so that it could be refined to produce the first batch of steel billets. Chinese and Vietnamese experts and workers are working together in this project.

Foreign invested projects in the field of energy, including projects with the participation of Chinese contractors, are going on normally.

China is Vietnam’s one of the largest import and export markets. Therefore, many people expressed their concerns that developments in the East Sea would create pressures on the Vietnamese economy.

So far, however, according to the Agency of Foreign Trade under the MOIT, the volume of imports, exports in the southern region has remained equal to that in the time prior to China’s illegal installation of its Haiyang Shiyou-981 oil rig in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in the East Sea. In the central region and Cat Lai Port area, there has been a slight slowdown in import, export activities because businesses are overcoming damages to resume production.

The Agency of Foreign Trade has provided guidance for the export-import management divisions of Dong Nai and Binh Duong province to provide assistance for businesses which suffered damage. In Ho Chi Minh City, there has been false information that Vietnam does not allow domestic businesses to trade with Chinese partners, so some businesses did not dare open letters of credit (L/Cs). The Agency of Foreign Trade has released a notice affirming that Vietnam’s import, export management policies and mechanisms remain unchanged.

At border-crossings in Lao Cai, Lang Son and Quang Ninh provinces, there has been a slight slowdown in the circulation of goods due to concerns among some merchants and shop owners. However, import, export activities have been stabilised since they found no changes in Vietnam’s policies.-VNA