Production activities at Tin An Investment, Production and Trade Joint Stock Company (Binh Duong). Photo: T.D

Good orders

In the context of the world economic situation is very unpredictable, the demand for goods in many major markets has decreased, but the economic sectors and fields of Binh Duong in the first seven months of 2024 continued to recover and grow strongly, especially the export of goods. According to the report of the Binh Duong Statistics Office, the export turnover of goods in the first seven months reached nearly US $18.9 billion, an increase of 8.6% over the same period in 2023, the import turnover reached US $13.5 billion, an increase of 10.6%; the trade surplus reached US $5.4 billion.

According to actual records these days, the factories of Thai Binh Investment Joint Stock Company (TBS Group) are focusing on production according to orders to ensure delivery progress for partners. Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Deputy General Director of TBS Group, said that in addition to current production, the company is expanding its workshops, attracting more 10,000 workers to receive new orders, and at the same time to meet the requirements of increasing export output from the first quarter of 2025. Now, the company has had enough export orders for the whole year of 2024. The company strives to achieve an export value increase of 20% or more this year compared to 2023.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Vu, Chairman of the Binh Duong Leather and Footwear Association, said that currently, leather and footwear enterprises in Binh Duong have had enough export orders for the whole year of 2024.

In addition, thanks to stable domestic production conditions, the number of orders in the last months of the year has shifted from some Asian countries to Vietnam, opening up good prospects for the leather and footwear industry in the coming time. The largest export market of the leather and footwear industry is the European Union (accounting for 34.1%), followed by the United States (accounting for 27.7%), Japan (accounting for 7.4%)...

Towarding sustainable exports

Although Binh Duong has achieved significant achievements in exports, it needs strong and timely measures to ensure sustainable development. According to Mr. Pham Van Xo, Chairman of the Binh Duong Import-Export Association, the province's key export items such as garments, leather shoes, and wooden furniture have seen significant growth. However, business activities have not really improved. Many export enterprises have to make efforts to find new orders and cannot be proactive in maintaining production.

Agreeing with this view, Mr. Nguyen Liem, Chairman of the Binh Duong Wood Processing Association (BIFA), said that the export results in the first months of the year were very positive in the current context, but we see that the order situation is not yet stable, so in the last months of the year, we must also find ways to strengthen trade promotion, hoping for better orders. On the other hand, focusing too much on one main market is a weakness of Vietnam. The proof is that when the consumption demand of the US market decreases, the export value of Vietnam also decreases significantly. Therefore, Vietnamese wood enterprises in general and Binh Duong wood enterprises in particular need to continue to diversify and gradually increase the proportion of exports to other potential markets to minimize risks, Mr. Nguyen Liem emphasized.

In addition, according to Ms. Phan Thi Khanh Duyen, Deputy Director of Binh Duong Department of Industry and Trade, there is a worrying fact that most of Binh Duong's export products have not built a brand in foreign markets. For example, Binh Duong's wood export products account for 41% of the country's total export products.

Although they have a solid position in the domestic market, the province's strong brands of wooden furniture in particular have not been able to make their mark in the international market when most of them have to "borrow the name" of foreign enterprises when exporting to foreign markets. Most of our enterprises manufacture according to orders, models, and designs from foreign customers, and have not proactively launched models and designs with Vietnamese cultural values...

Accordingly, in the coming time, Binh Duong departments and branches will continue to focus on implementing a number of key solutions to support export enterprises to consolidate key export markets; expanding markets of countries with advantages from commitments to Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), in parallel with implementing trade defense solutions to protect goods and export markets; implementing regulations on technical barriers, food safety and hygiene regulations, environment, intellectual property, commitments to meet carbon emission restrictions, etc. in export markets to enterprises.

In addition, Binh Duong will increase investment attraction in logistics service projects serving industrial development and import and export; Planning for supporting industry development and brand development to improve production capacity and competitiveness of enterprises, gradually increase the localization rate, technology content and added value of export goods, towards sustainable export.