Exports by Ho Chi Minh City companies in the first eight months of the year reached 28.4 billion USD, a 4 percent increase year-on-year, according to the municipal Department of Industry and Trade.

Industrial products accounted for US$19.93 billion and agro-forestry-fishery exports for more than US$3 billion. Imports fell by 2.8 % to US$32.07 billion.

The biggest export market was China, which accounted for US$6.84 billion or 26.2 % of total shipments. The US followed with US$4.45 billion.

The city’s index of industrial production in the first eight months grew by 8.55 % month-on-month.

Nguyen Phuong Dong, deputy director of the department, said the city has managed to sustain economic growth this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to the efforts made by the Government to control it. He said more measures would be taken to boost the economy during the rest of this year.

According to a survey by the city Department of Statistics, half of the enterprises affected by the pandemic thought the consumer market has shrunk, and 15.3 % said manufactured goods could not be sold domestically.

More than half of State-owned enterprises and 48.45 % of foreign-owned enterprises said they have been unable to export this year.

The department is working with the Statistics Office and other agencies to monitor the production and demand situation to take measures to support businesses during the rest of the year, Dong said.

The priority is to help companies pay salaries to their workers so that they could maintain the workforce, he said.

The Departments of Planning and Investment, and Industry and Trade and authorities in all 24 districts would keep track of cancelled orders, the number of businesses closing down and the number of workers losing jobs, he added.

It is important to ensure enterprises resume production as soon as possible, encourage domestic production to replace imports and expand domestic value chains, he added.