Enterprises expect a breakthrough in the market for the Lunar New Year 2023. Photo: T.D

Ready for peak season

As noted by the reporter, these days, many enterprises have finished preparing raw materials and started producing goods for the Lunar New Year of the year 2023. At the production plant of Vietnam Animal Industry Joint Stock Company. (Vissan), some lines have "run" output for the Tet season. Mr Phan Van Dung, Deputy General Director of Vissan said that Vissan prepared a budget of VND 710 billion to reserve and produce Tet goods, an increase of 20% compared to the same period in 2021. According to the plan, Vissan prepared 2,000 tons of fresh food (mainly pork), an increase of 30% compared to the implementation of the Year of the Tiger in 2022 and 4,200 tons of processed food, an increase of 10%. Vissan committed to having enough goods before and after Tet with stable prices.

Besides, according to Mr Phan Van Dung, after many events, consumers were still saving spending and paying much attention to the price of goods. Therefore, to sell goods, from now until the end of the year, Vissan will maintain promotional activities in the form of mat-rolling. Processed food items would alternately be discounted up to 25%, and fresh foods would also alternately reduce prices but at a lower rate...

Similarly, enterprises boldly set high output and sales targets for some products, such as processed seafood, confectionery, beverage, etc. In addition, companies producing and trading in meat and poultry eggs have also completed the preparations at livestock farms and associated farms to ensure the supply of goods to the market from now until Tet.

Ms Pham Thi Huan, General Director of Ba Huan Co., Ltd., said that the company increased its production output by 20% compared to the same period last year to serve the market during the Lunar New Year of 2023. According to Ms Huan, it had not expected retail price yet, but Ba Huan company would participate in the market stabilization program, so it had to stock up on raw materials and animal feed actively and tried to keep the selling price, contributing to stabilizing the supply of goods at reasonable prices.

According to Mr Truong Chi Thien, General Director of Vinh Thanh Dat, it was predicted that from now until Tet, the price of poultry eggs would not fluctuate. This is because poultry egg production was exceedingly abundant, and the company could afford to meet the consumption demand increased by 50% in December. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh City had just increased the price of poultry eggs in the program to stabilize the market. In addition, while petrol prices were down, prices of raw materials for animal feed production tended to decrease, which were factors keeping stable poultry egg prices in the future.

Dealing with difficulties

According to the General Statistics Office and optimism about the business prospects in the fourth quarter of 2022, the business registration situation also showed a positive signal in the first nine months of May. As a result, in the fourth quarter of 2022, enterprises expect their business situation to be better than in the third quarter of 2022, when 48.7% of enterprises have a positive assessment, and 33.9% of enterprises think that the situation of production is positive. The business output will stabilise, and only 17.4% of enterprises forecast more difficulties.

Although there are many signs of growth and recovery, according to enterprises, the difficult situation is forecasted to continue due to the impact of the world situation and market fluctuations. That requires enterprises to actively respond to challenges to stabilize product prices and fill year-end orders.

A representative of G.C Food Joint Stock Company (GC Food) informed that Japan was one of GC Food's main markets, but the company was currently facing the problem of the yen depreciating against the US dollar, and the Covid-19 pandemic returned, causing the purchasing power to decrease. The original plan of the enterprise working with a partner had been to increase output by 30%, but now consumption was only equal to last year. Therefore, GC Food was trying to find new export markets, boost domestic consumption and keep selling prices to stabilize the market while input costs increased sharply. This makes the company reduce profits, affecting investment plans to expand.

According to economic experts, the exchange rate, inflation, and interest rate hikes are the main obstacles for enterprises from now until the end of 2022. But many enterprises also expect domestic consumption demand and the economic support package to boost for them, helping to reduce difficulties and obstacles. Therefore, it is important for each enterprise to clearly identify its specific difficulties and challenges in order to have appropriate adaptive solutions and be proactive in the face of unwanted impacts.

Ms. Ly Kim Chi, Chairman of the Food Association of Ho Chi Minh City, said that input prices increased simultaneously, pushing production costs up by 20-30%. This greatly impacted production and business activities reduced the competitiveness of enterprises in the food industry and affected the business plan to prepare Tet holiday when the required capital increased higher than in previous years. Accordingly, the Association proposed to the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City to continue promoting activities to improve the investment environment, reform administrative procedures in investment, business and logistics infrastructure, warehouses to help enterprises save time and costs, easily access loans with appropriate interest rates, maintain production activities in the context of high input costs.