Exporters call for more Gov’t assistance to address difficulties

The factory of the Tinh Loi Garment Company in Hai Duong province. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Sufferingfrom declined overseas shipments, export businesses in some industries now needmore assistance from the Government to navigate difficulties and challenges,insiders have said.

Together with public investment andconsumption, export is identified as one of the three drivers of Vietnam’seconomic growth.

However, amid unpredictable andcomplex developments in the global economy, especially the tightening ofmonetary policies in many countries, global trade has slowed down.

Le Tien Truong, Chairman of the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (VINATEX),said textile and garment exports started worsening in the final months of 2022,and there haven’t been any signs of improvement. The shortage of ordersis a common phenomenon among businesses in the industry. Meanwhile, Vietnam's rivals likeBangladesh, India, and Turkey have recorded contrary results.

Besides, the shares of Vietnamese textile and garment are now on a downwardtrend in such markets as the US, the EU, and the Republic of Korea, he pointedout.

That fact is partly attributable to manymarkets shifting their orders to the producing countries with geographicaladvantages. However, the main cause comes from the relatively weakcompetitiveness of Vietnam’s textile and garment businesses, which are facingan array of challenges in terms of capital, interest rates, logistics cost, andsalary expense, and many trade barriers, he went on.

In addition, Truong said, Vietnam isno longer a producer with the advantage of cheap labour. Businesses are alsoencountering difficulties related to machinery and technology upgrade whiletheir capacity remains modest, leading to limited labour productivity andcompetitiveness.

Echoing the view, Secretary General of the Vietnam Association of SeafoodExporters and Producers (VASEP) Truong Dinh Hoe noted the fisheries sector hasseen many complex developments over the past years, including unstable materialsupply, price volatility, soaring production costs, and increased anti-dumpingduties in the US market, resulting in worsening imbalance between materialproduction and export processing.

Workers process tra fish for export. (Photo: VNA)

Businesses have also continuallyfaced new challenges such as increasing technical barriers, the US’s seafoodimport monitoring programme, the “yellow-card” warning over illegal, unreportedand unregulated (IUU) fishing from the EU, and China’s tightened control over cross-bordertrade, which all have mounted pressure on aquatic exports, he added.

Ramla Khalidi, Resident Representativeof the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam, recommended the Governmentcontinue support policies for exporters, especially domestic ones, strive toincrease the country’s global market share for the commodities and services Vietnamesefirms can supply, and pay more attention to the companies working in the industriesof sustainability like renewable energy and energy efficiency.

It is also highly important todevelop domestic exporters so as to reduce the overdependence on foreigninvested businesses, she opined, suggesting Vietnam maintain the job creation speed,particularly in the sectors that can post fast productivity growth, to boostadvantages for export sectors in the future.

Forhis part, Hoe suggested the Government extend the reduction of corporate incometax for the firms meeting sustainability standards and provide concessionalloans for green factory, green transition, and circular business projects./.

VNA