Despite many difficulties, businesses are trying to find and expand export partners. Photo: H.Deu

Many businesses have ordered until mid-2023

As noted, many businesses and employees are excited to enter the new year with positive export shipments. For example, at Supertex Textile and Garment Joint Stock Company this business immediately went into production to prepare for an order to export more than 1 million socks to Japan. Leaders of this company shared that in 2022, despite many difficulties, the whole Company still cares and takes good care of the lives of employees, and at the same time, promotes the plan to find orders and partners to have many export orders for the new year.

Similarly, at Garment 10 Corporation, in 2023, May 10 is expected to increase export orders by 120-130% compared to 2022, equivalent to an export value of 5.5-6 million USD. The company also aims to expand the market to other major partners and customers in the Americas and Europe to diversify markets and increase revenue. At the same time, to improve competitiveness, Than Duc Viet, General Director of May 10, said that he would build technology and digital management solutions to meet the requirements of fast delivery time and stable quality, building close chain links for sustainable development, Proactive in sourcing raw materials.

As the owner of the Richy confectionery brand, in 2023, Hoang Mai Trading and Production Co., Ltd aims to increase production and export by 15-20% compared to 2022, and the employees' income will increase from 7-10%. The company also received many new orders before Tet, so after the holiday, it quickly returned to production and met the order schedule.

According to export businesses, to be able to return to the "return" work right after a long holiday, businesses have actively sourced raw materials before Tet, and at the same time, the number of workers returning to work is very large, so it helps to stabilize production quickly. Moreover, due to the proactive strategy of finding customers, many businesses excitedly said that they had ordered until the middle of 2023.

Take advantage of the motivations

However, considering the reality, many exporters are still facing difficulties when there is a decrease in the number of orders and the number of exports in many key products from the end of 2022, which is likely to continue in the future. In addition, the shortage of input materials for export industries such as apparel and footwear, which has not been completely resolved by 2022, is also a limit ation for exports in 2023. Therefore, many businesses had to reduce working hours, not overtime, to relax work and maintain labor.

Information released by the General Statistics Office shows that the index of industrial production (IIP) in January 2023 was estimated to decrease by 14.6% compared to the previous month and down by 8% compared to the same period last year. This is partly due to the long Tet holiday in January and the decrease in the number and size of orders. Notably, the manufacturing index in January 2023 decreased by 9.1% over the same period last year, reducing 7 percentage points in the overall increase.

Previously, the report on survey results on production and business trends of 6,500 enterprises in the processing and manufacturing industry in the first quarter of 2023, announced by the General Statistics Office at the end of December 2022, showed that there were 31.5% of enterprises forecast the production and business situation in the first quarter of 2023 better than the fourth quarter of 2022; 37.3% of enterprises think that keeping it stable and 31.2% of enterprises think that it will be more difficult. Furthermore, for the number of new export orders in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, 24% of enterprises forecast an increase; 42.7% said it would stay the same, and 33.3% of businesses forecast a decrease.

However, according to experts, Vietnamese businesses still have many motivations to promote exports in 2023. The fact that Vietnam has a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with more than 60 markets is an important plus for businesses to accelerate exports and take advantage of tariff preferences. Businesses must take advantage of this dynamic to improve and enhance capacity and prepare a methodical plan to make the most of market opportunities and advantages from the new FTAs generation.

In a recent directive urging ministries, branches and localities to perform key tasks after the Lunar New Year holiday of 2023, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked to focus on work urgently. , ensuring timeliness, quality, and efficiency, not letting delay affect production, business, and socio-economic activities, creating an exciting atmosphere and new atmosphere, and striving to implement a good job right from the beginning of the year. The Prime Minister requested to continue to promote reform of administrative procedures, especially to cut regulations related to business activities; have solutions to make good use of market opening opportunities to boost exports to traditional markets, potential neighbouring markets, and partner markets of FTAs, especially new-generation FTAs and new-generation FTAs and the new potential markets.