The epidemic has had a significant impact on public health, transportation, tourism, education, and, importantly, trade and commerce, experts said.

It has affected Vietnam’s trade not only with China but also other markets, and started hurting Vietnamese businesses.

Workers at a textile factory in Vietnam.

According to the Department of Import and Export under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the impacts include prolonging delivery times and customs clearance due to the quarantine requirements on both sides.

In addition, trade by road, rail and air with China has slumped.

With Chinese goods not available, Vietnam has been unable to source imports, which has affected its production and exports to third markets.

Many textile and footwear enterprises are therefore looking at raw material imports from other markets such as the Republic of Korea, India, Bangladesh, and Brazil.

Pham Xuan Hong, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Textile Association, said this would only be a temporary solution since China could not be replaced as the main supplier by anyone else due to its much lower costs.

Truong Van Cam, Vice Chairman and Secretary General of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas), said the textile industry sources a significant proportion of feedstock from China.

The epidemic has caused Chinese businesses to shut down production, especially in Wuhan, where there are a number of large factories, he said.

Since many textile plants in China are likely to be closed until the end of February or even longer, supply to Vietnam would be hard hit, he said.

If the epidemic continues for the next one or two months, the global economy, including Vietnam, would be in trouble, he warned.

But this is also an opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to look for other sources to relinquish their dependence on China, he pointed out.

Other countries like Thailand, India and Indonesia are also looking for other markets to source raw materials from to reduce their dependence on China, he said.

Companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, need Government support in the form of preferential loans and access to new technologies to sustain their business, he added.

Vitas has asked members for reports on the impact of the outbreak on their operations and instructed them to follow developments.

It urged businesses to focus on the domestic market and from other markets to sustain themselves and ensure workers are not affected.

Do Thi Thuy Huong of the Vietnam Electronics Industries Association said most enterprises in her industry are expected to be hit hard in the next one or two months, and face the risk of delaying payments to workers and stopping production.

Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Import and Export Department, said the ministry has worked with the Ministry of Health to take measures against the epidemic, but they would not impact trade.

Recently a number of credit institutions offered to earmark funds to meet credit demand from customers affected by the outbreak.

Tay youths start business with community-based tourism model

A group of young people, including seven secretaries of Youth Union branches, led by Doan Van De - Secretary of the Youth Union branch of Thuong Lam Commune, established Thuong Lam cooperative to implement “community-based tourism” projects.

Vietnamese enterprises seek food business opportunities in India

Vietnamese enterprises joined the third Indian International Food and Beverage Expo (Indus Food 2020) in Uttar Pradesh, India, from January 8 to 10, to seek business cooperation opportunities in confectionery, beverages, energy drinks and fruits.

Number of new businesses hits record

A total of 138,100 businesses with a combined registered capital of 1.73 quadrillion VND (74.7 billion USD) were set up in 2019, up 5.2 percent and 17.1 percent, respectively, from the previous years.

Fortuned businesses, developed province

(BGO) – The northern province of Bac Giang has been recently ranked among the top leading provinces in investment attraction, particularly securing the sixth position nationwide in 2019 in approving for new projects. In spite of the impressive results, there are many thing to be done in term of investment attraction  to promote the effectiveness of “fortuned businesses, developed province”. 

Record numbers for newly established businesses in 2019

The total number of newly-established enterprises in 2019 was over 138,100 with total registered capital of VND1.7 quadrillion (over US$73.5 billion), up 5.2% and 17%, respectively, against last year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Source: VNA