Vietnamese manufactures are calling for improving domestic material supplies in an effort to reduce reliance on imports, especially from China, said the Saigon Times Daily.

Speaking at the seminar held by the 2030 Businessmen Club under the Saigon Times Club on June 30, participants agreed that bolstering cooperation for sustainable development was not a new story. They also noted that it was time for domestic material producers to boost their production activities.

Do Long, Chairman and General Director of Binh Tan Consumer Goods Manufacturing Company (Bita’s), said the company needs up to 360 types of material to produce a pair of shoes and thus it keeps finding domestic suppliers.

Long said his company has found around 80 material suppliers.

Le Quoc An, former Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, said that Southeast Asian countries have set up the ASEAN Federation of Textile Industries (AFTEX), whose goal is to make use of strengths of each country and assisting each other.

The operating model of AFTEX is quite effective. Therefore, local enterprises need to be aware of their strengths in forging links with each other, according to An.

Meanwhile, according to Nguyen Thanh Nhan, Deputy Director of Saigon Co.op, small and medium producers fail to win customers' trust as their product quality is sometimes not as high as claimed. Besides, they are reluctant in cooperating with one another, he said.

“Many producers have refused to join us in making products bearing the brand of Saigon Co.op as they want to open their own distribution channels and build their own brands, which is a great challenge due to their limited capacities,” Nhan said at the seminar.

Enterprises that are members of the 2030 Businessmen Club and speakers agreed on developing their own material sources, but this needs careful and strategic considerations.

“I expect that cooperation opportunities will open up after this seminar, with cooperation deals to be inked in the coming time, to prove that this is not a talk shop,” said Do Long of Bita’s.-VNA