The year 2022 passed with many ups and downs, but the economy Ho Chi Minh City in particular, the whole country in general still achieved very impressive growth rate; including the great contribution of the business community.
In 2023, it is expected that there will be many difficulties and challenges, but with their experience and acumen, businesses are still confident that there are always opportunities for those who know how to seize them.
Many challenges
Lu Nguyen Xuan Vu, General Director of Xuan Nguyen Group Joint Stock Company, said that in 2023 the world economy still faces many challenges, partly due to the consequences that cannot be recovered following. COVID-19 pandemicplus instability caused by inflation, the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict.
Specifically, many countries that have not yet returned to the growth trajectory before the COVID-19 epidemic fell into inflation, causing consumers to tighten spending. Distributors can’t sell goods, inventory increases, so they cut orders, which directly affects the sales. enterpriseVietnam’s export industry. This trend has manifested since the second half of 2022 and continues to the first half of 2023.
Meanwhile, the impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine continues to create instability in the energy market. Not only does the increase in gasoline prices cause production costs of enterprises to be increased, but there is also a potential risk of fuel shortage, which may affect the circulation of goods.
Regarding the domestic situation, Mr. Lu Nguyen Xuan Vu analyzed, the Government and ministries and branches have created favorable conditions for business activities, actively promoted trade promotion activities, and opened negotiations. new market door for Vietnamese goods and agricultural products. However, businesses still have difficulty accessing bank capital for investment and production.
Many businesses that do not have enough resources to get through 2022 have to close, workers lose their jobs, increasing economic pressure on other family workers, causing many households to rebalance their spending. The purchasing power in the domestic market will therefore also be significantly reduced, especially for non-essential goods.
Sharing the same view, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Luan, CEO of Global Trade Links Limited Liability Company (Meet More) said that 2023 will be very difficult due to many adverse factors, the pandemic. As soon as COVID-19 was brought under control, inflation and conflicts lasted.
According to the chain reaction, the Vietnamese economy is usually affected more slowly than the “hot spots” by 3-6 months. Therefore, the first quarter of 2023 will be the time when Vietnam will be hardest hit by inflation and economic slowdown.
“The world economic-political situation is in a period of continuous and unpredictable fluctuations, export difficulties that have appeared since the last months of 2022 are expected to last until the end of the second quarter of 2023. People around the world are still having to consider spending when their incomes drop and the prices of goods, food, and fuel increase due to inflation. different scenarios; at the same time, flexibility in evaluating and exploiting the market,” shared Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Luan.
[Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh tạo đòn bẩy vững chắc cho tăng trưởng kinh tế]
Mr. Pham Van Viet, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Viet Thang Jean Co., Ltd., Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Textile and Apparel Association, shared that the world’s demand for textiles has decreased. decline from the second half of 2022, especially in the last months of the year, leading to large inventories and a serious decrease in export orders.
Customs clearance of goods at Saigon Newport. (Photo: VNA)In the EU market, the purchasing power for jeans products has decreased by 60-70%, other items have decreased by 30-40% on average, the US market and other markets in Asia are also in a downward trend. reduction.
According to Mr. Pham Van Viet, difficulties in orders are forecasted to continue in the first months of 2023 because textiles, especially trendy fashion products are not essential items to be prioritized for purchase. shopping in a gloomy economic context. Only when the economy recovers and essential needs are ensured can the fashion market prosper once more.
Proactively adapt
Tran Viet Anh, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Business Association, said that, through the COVID-19 pandemic and 1 year of economic recovery, the business community in Ho Chi Minh City has proven its strength. internal resources and experience, skills to deal with difficulties.
Although the economy in 2023 is considered to continue to be unfavorable for some industries, there are still opportunities for others. For example, in the current period, textiles, footwear, and furniture are in short supply, but there are also many businesses that are increasing production shifts thanks to traditional markets and reputable products in the market.
“It can be seen that, no matter how difficult the economy is, civil and popular products that serve the basic needs of life still have a consumption market. These products do not bring high profit value. but still can help businesses maintain production activities, retain labor resources to reinvest in production for the next development cycles.It is important for businesses to be sensitive and grasp real needs economic conditions of the market to respond in a timely manner,” emphasized Mr. Tran Viet Anh.
Mr. Lu Nguyen Xuan Vu said that in the context of many disadvantages, businesses themselves have to be more proactive to “manage.” In 2022, despite the decrease in purchasing power, the business still consolidates and maintains the distribution agent system from big cities to rural areas.
On that basis, in 2023, businesses will prioritize the implementation of product promotion programs, especially OCOP certified product groups (one product per commune program), to stimulate consumer demand through promotion programs, giving promotional gifts to products to reach the most consumers.
For export, the enterprise maintains traditional markets such as the US, China, Korea, Japan and countries in Southeast Asia. However, the enterprise will not sell raw products but promote the export of processed products with Xuan Nguyen’s own brand in order to add value to Vietnamese agricultural products and diversify choices for consumers.
Sharing experiences in dealing with adverse fluctuations over the past time, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Luan said that businesses need to focus on adjusting production and business plans to adapt, instead of building long-term plans from 1-2 years, it is necessary to flexibly switch to a short-term plan of 3-6 months, even adjusting for each month.
Because long-term planning requires businesses to have a large staff to regulate, large capital investment for raw material storage, but in the context of unpredictable market, such investment will come with risks. especially the risk of financial imbalance for businesses with high interest rate bank loans.
With the view of “in danger,” from the fourth quarter of 2022 when the traditional export markets slowed down, Meet More did not sit idly by, but actively sought out new markets, focusing on the European market. Europe and Russia.
Coffee export. (Photo courtesy: Nguyen Dung/VNA)Explaining the entry into the “hot spot” of conflict, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Luan said that although the Russia-Ukraine war caused instability in Europe and there were times when exporting to this region was difficult due to some ports. blocked, but that is the area where there is a “gap” that businesses can exploit.
In particular, the war affected the food supply chain in Europe and the supply chain in Russia was severely disrupted when many large factories moved out of the war zone. Choosing to go once morest the crowd has helped Meet More reach many potential customers in Europe, including Russia. From the very beginning of 2023, Meet More has received a lot of orders from new customers in the Czech Republic, France, Poland and Norway.
From only exporting processed coffee, Meet More is currently being proposed by customers to provide other agricultural products of Vietnam such as rice, pomelo… Therefore, in 2023, the company will focus on exploiting the market. European market and cooperate with other agricultural enterprises to support and coordinate exports effectively.
Xuan Anh (VNA/Vietnam+)
