Domestic market helps firms overcome crisis amidst pandemic: Minister

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai speaks at the conference (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Hanoi (VNA) – The domestic market is billed as a fulcrum for local enterprises which are facing formidable challenges as the development of the COVID-19 pandemic has had serious impacts on export markets, with postponed or cancelled orders, according to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai.

Speaking at the domestic market development conference on August 12, Hai said the domestic market with nearly 100 million consumers is large enough for local firms to overcome difficulties and challenges as the coronavirus outbreak has clobbered the global economy.

Total retail sales of goods and services in the first seven months of this year decreased by 0.4 percent year-on-year, but revenue increased by 3.6 percent, ensuring the essential needs of people and the supply of raw materials, fuel, machinery, equipment and goods to maintain production and business for domestic market and exports as well.

“This result is thanks to the 2014-20 campaign ‘Vietnamese people prioritise Vietnamese goods’, which has supported changing local consumers’ awareness and behaviour through dissemination programmes,” Hai said.

He said the campaign has also helped Vietnam’s distribution network develop sustainably and enhance the competitive capacity for Vietnamese enterprises, showing the strong vitality of Vietnamese products as an important pillar in the domestic market, contributing to completing economic indicators, curbing inflation, stabilising the macro-economy and ensuring balance of supply and demand, especially essential goods.

Director general of the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Department for Local and Regional Economy Tran Duy Dong, said an array of programmes have been organised under the campaign in the past six years so as to popularise prestigious brands and firms in the country.

Particularly, the “Vietnamese Goods Identification- Proud of Vietnamese Goods”, launched in 2015, has attracted the participation of many local brands.

“Hundreds of Memoranda of Understanding were inked between rural producers and large businesses”, Dong said, adding that most international organisations including the World Bank, IMF and ADB have praised the role of the Vietnamese market in the context of the pandemic.

“Domestic goods are still produced and circulated regularly, meeting not only the domestic demand but also exports to countries around the world,” he added.

According to a report from the Domestic Market Department, Vietnamese goods in the retail supermarket system of Co.opmart account for 90-93 percent, Satra 90-95 percent, Vissan 95 percent, Vinmart 90 percent, BRG Retail 90 percent, and Bach Hoa Xanh supermarket system 95 percent.

Meanwhile, the proportion of Vietnamese commodities at foreign supermarkets in Vietnam ranges between 60 percent and 96 percent. They make up 82 percent at Lotte, 96 percent at Big C, 80 percent at AEON, and 95 percent at MegaMarket.

As for traditional retail channels, Vietnamese goods at convenience stores and traditional markets make up more than 60 percent or more.

To promote the consumption of Vietnamese goods in the domestic market, Dong said there is a need to add mechanisms and policies to encourage domestic enterprises to increase the application of science and technology, develop supporting industries, and expand convenient and flexible distribution channels of Vietnamese goods.

“It is necessary to push up the connection of businesses from production to consumption, especially e-commerce both at home and abroad to expand the consumption markets of Vietnamese goods,” he added. 

According to Deputy Director of Saigon Co.op Hanoi Nguyen Thi Kim Dung, supermarkets and stores in the Co.op system prioritise local products, and they always receive optimum positioning.

The ‘Vietnamese Goods Identification- Proud of Vietnamese Goods’ programme, which is implemented by Saigon Co.op annually, helps its revenue expand by at least 10 percent right in the month the programme is carried out. Saigon Co.op also joins hands with localities to support producers with capital and techniques so that they can produce high-quality goods to meet market demands, Dung added.

Vietnamese products have won the taste of local consumers (Photo: VietnamPlus).

At the event, the deputy head of the steering board for the national campaign “Vietnamese people prioritise Vietnamese goods” Truong Thi Ngoc Anh stressed that after six years of implementation, the campaign has helped build a strong distribution network to serve the basic demand of local people, even in an emergency state.

Notably, the Vietnamese goods and local distribution channel has proven their strengths when the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak hit several localities, she said, given there is no scarcity of essential items.

“More than 20,000 stores selling goods at stable prices have made contributions to serving the needs of Vietnamese consumers,” Anh stated./.