Enterprises must change to expand opportunities to find orders and partners. Source: Internet

"Finding" any order

Since the beginning of 2022, Vietnam's import and export turnover is still very positive and still has a trade surplus of US$1.39 billion. However, according to data from the General Department of Customs, in the first half of August, export turnover reached US$15.13 billion, down about 7% compared to the second half of July 2022, leading to a trade deficit of US$0.11 billion. This situation comes from the fact that enterprises are seeing a shortage of orders.

A footwear manufacturing and exporting enterprise said that in the past, it could receive orders from 1-2 quarters in advance, orders were more and more rushed towards the end of the year, but this year, it only have orders for 2-3 months in advance. He even said that some companies have had their orders canceled by partners because of a decrease in consumption demand.

According to Mr. Bach Khanh Nhut, Standing Vice President of the Vietnam Cashew Association, the European market was suffering from high inflation, while cashew products were in the high segment, so the export volume was very difficult. The market decline has affected the cashew industry, some small and medium-sized cashew processing factories had to close because there was no output. More problems would arise from now to the end of the year so that the export turnover of US$3.2 billion as planned from the beginning of the year would not be achieved.

Changing to look for opportunities

From these difficulties, according to many experts, enterprises must have plans to change the way they look for partners and find new orders. In addition, in order to minimize the impact, many enterprises have turned to search for new sources of raw materials, cutting unnecessary costs and increasing labor productivity.

For example, Hong Duc Co., Ltd (a cashew nut exporter in Dak Nong) has changed its strategy, along with exporting white cashews to the European and American markets, the company has reduced production activities, concentrating resources on salted roasted cashew products to serve the Chinese market. A representative of this company said that although salted roasted cashew products had a low selling price, they did not cost much to produce, so they were suitable for the import market in the context of high inflation.

Also affected by the decline in demand, a representative of Century Yarn Joint Stock Company said that the company would focus on niche markets with high value-added products, continue to seek find and expand customer networks, and boost order receipts to maintain a stable profit margin. Besides, the business report of Century Yarn also showed that the company had been focusing on recycled yarn and had a long-term plan for this product because of its high-profit margin. Explaining this strategy, the company said that many large manufacturing enterprises in the world were committed to using recycled fibers, so they must develop to take advantage of future opportunities.

Especially, for many enterprises today, applying e-commerce to find customers is becoming necessary. A representative of BigPhone Trading and Service Co., Ltd. said that when putting products on an international e-commerce platform, their revenue increased by 30% compared to the same period last year. He said that exporting through e-commerce has opened up opportunities for small and medium enterprises to access a large market, and easily find customer information as well as market requirements to speed up exports, without much cost and human resources like the traditional method of finding customers.

According to the Vietnam E-commerce Association, enterprises' goods are already available on major e-commerce platforms in the world such as Amazon. JD.com, Alibaba, Shopee Global, with the main products being finished agricultural products, handicrafts, furniture, and household appliances.

Many enterprises have approached international e-commerce sites not only to promote exports but also opportunity to sign large contracts with large distributors.

Along with the above actions, according to experts and enterprises, finding new customers and markets needs a lot of support from trade promotion activities, brand and product promotion as well as updating market information regularly for enterprises. But most importantly, enterprises also have to "upgrade" themselves, so that the product quality meets the standards of most international markets, making the export market transition faster and more convenient.