With the market outlook expected to remain positive during the peak year-end shopping season, many businesses plan to maintain high production capacity at least through the first quarter (Q1) of next year to clear backlogged orders and meet rising demand from foreign clients.

Businesses across the board ramp up production to catch up with year-end orders surge

Speaking to VIR, Nguyen Trung Dung, CEO of southern food major Dh Foods, said that since the beginning of Q4, the company's orders have increased steadily.

In Q4 alone, growth exceeded 30 per cent, bringing full-year growth to nearly the same level. Orders rose evenly across both domestic and export markets, leaving the company happy with its year-end business performance.

In exports, Japan and Europe continue to be Dh Foods' two key markets, each recording growth of several dozen percentage points.

The company has also signed a distribution agreement with a major partner in the United States, allowing its products to enter Vietnamese and Asian grocery stores as well as Asian supermarket chains in that market.

“We expect the US market to grow more strongly from next year and play an increasingly important role in our export revenue structure,” Dung said.

Meanwhile, in the domestic market, year-end purchasing power has shown signs of improvement compared with last year, but has yet to return to the robust levels seen pre-COVID.

Lunar New Year shopping sentiment at supermarkets remains cautious, forcing businesses to adopt more flexible strategies to reach consumers.

According to Dung, the company has accelerated demand-stimulus initiatives this year, including promotions, gifts, and product sampling, particularly during new product launches.

These campaigns have been rolled out continuously since the beginning of Q4 and stepped up during the year-end peak season across both retail channels and social media platforms.

Beyond the food sector, the garment industry is also facing significant pressure from surging year-end orders.

Pham Quang Anh, director of Dony Garment, said that many customers have requested completion and delivery ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

This is largely due to production characteristics, as factories typically shut down for around two weeks during traditional Lunar New Year (Tet), which will land in mid-February next year.

Failure to deliver on time would disrupt customers' production schedules, forcing firms to speed up operations to avoid impacting partners' supply chains.

In the food industry, Truong Chi Thien, general director of Vinh Thanh Dat Food JSC (V.Food), noted that processed food products are recording particularly strong growth.

Following abnormal storms and flooding, coupled with the rapid expansion of e-commerce, demand for processed foods has risen significantly.

To date, production output in this category has increased by around 200-300 per cent compared with the same period last year.

To cope with rising orders, many businesses have been forced to operate factories at higher intensity, while rushing investment plans to bolster production capacity over the medium and long term.

At Dh Foods, all three shifts at the existing factory are currently running at full capacity. "Our workforce is very close to meeting order volumes, almost producing and delivering simultaneously. The company has proactively arranged three shifts from the beginning of the fourth quarter to limit extended overtime, and we plan to adjust wage increases for employees from early next year to share business results," Nguyen Trung Dung said.

At the same time, the company has put into operation an additional factory covering about 1,000 square metres in Kizuna Industrial Park in the southern province of Tay Ninh. The facility is expected to begin operations immediately after Tet, serving orders with more sentient standards.

At Dony Garment Company, director Quang Anh said that to meet year-end orders, the company has recruited additional seasonal workers. However, recruitment during this period has proven difficult, as most businesses face rising labour demand while workers prioritize job stability to secure income and Tet bonuses.

As a result, the existing workforce has been working for a considerable time, while new recruitment has progressed slowly.

Amid intensified price competition, one of Dony's key strategic directions for 2025-2026 is to invest in upgrading factory facilities to obtain international certifications such as WRAP, ISO, and corporate social responsibility standards.

These certifications not only strengthen the confidence of existing customers but also open up opportunities to access higher-end client segments.