The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) will promote domestic market consumption to contribute partly to enhancing socio-economic development.

Vietnam's retail sales of goods in October reached VND356.5 trillion,
up 2.5% month on month (Photo: tapchitaichinh.vn)

In the context that the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting export, investment and tourism activities, the domestic market continues to be a bright spot in the macro-economy for short and also long-term economic growth, according to the ministry.

Therefore, the MoIT has implemented solutions to ensure a balance between supply and demand of goods and stability of the domestic market by year-end and until the Lunar New Year in 2021.

In addition, the ministry has been implementing specific programmes and measures to stimulate consumption and encourage efficient and sustainable development of the domestic market.

It also focuses on supporting enterprises to implement programmes and solutions to stimulate domestic consumption and for customers nationwide to increase consumption of domestic goods.

Meanwhile, departments of industry and trade in provinces and centrally-run cities are required to ensure supply of essential goods in the localities.

They will organise conferences to connect producers, suppliers and retailers and events for producers and traders, especially small traders, to bring goods to residential areas, industrial parks, and rural and mountainous regions.

The ministry will enhance business methods on encouraging consumption, such as the night economy, fairs, exhibitions on products and services. It still continues to implement the programme "Vietnamese people give priority to using Vietnamese goods".

Besides that, MoIT will also promote the application of information technology (IT) and develop e-commerce activities.

Of which, the ministry will complete a draft amending and supplementing some articles of the Government’s Decree No 52/2013/NĐ-CP on e-commerce to complete legal documents for trading of goods on e-commerce platforms.

It will strengthen further management of transactions on major e-commerce sites and develop sanctions to handle violations which are damaging to consumers' interests.

The ministry will continue to implement activities fighting trade fraud and smuggling, as well as counterfeit and poor quality goods. Those activities will contribute to protecting domestic production, business and consumption.

It reported the total retail sales of consumer goods and services in October were estimated at VND450.8 trillion, up 2.4% month on month and 6.1% year on year. Of which, retail sales of goods reached VND356.5 trillion, up 2.5% month on month and up 11% year on year.

In the first 10 months of this year, the total retail sales reached VND4.1 quadrillion, up 1.3% over the same period last year. Of which, the retail sales of goods in 10 months reached VND3.3 quadrillion, accounting for 79.1% of the total and up 5.4% year on year.

These figures showed that retail continues to be one of the important factors contributing to growth of the domestic market and also to national GDP growth, especially during the current difficult period, according to the ministry.

To Hoai Nam, vice chairman and general secretary of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, said in the context of COVID-19 at present, the domestic market was the lifesaver for businesses both in the short and long terms.

When the local businesses come back to the domestic market, Vietnam could reduce dependence on imported goods. That would create more sustainable development of the domestic market in the future.

Vinh Hoan Joint Stock Company is considered a large export enterprise with a large export value of tra fish products. However, this company has returned to the home market with a supply of nearly 20 processed tra and basa fish products meeting export standards.

Truong Thi Le Khanh, chairwoman of Vinh Hoan JSC, said every year the company processed over 300,000 tonnes of tra fish for export to 40 countries and territories.

Meanwhile, consumers in the domestic market do not have many opportunities to enjoy high-end pangasius products, according to Khanh. Therefore, Vinh Hoan wants to return to the domestic market and bring export products to local customers. At the same time, the domestic market can offset a portion of its revenue when exports have reduced due to the pandemic.

For retailers, revenue from the domestic market is still growing though the pandemic has caused local consumers to tighten their spending, reported the Cong thuong (industry and trade) newspaper.

Nguyen Thi Phuong, deputy general director of Central Retail Group, said her group had worked with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to organise a series of events connecting producers, suppliers and retailers, so many products meeting quality, food safety and hygiene standards are distributed at the company’s GO/Big C supermarket system.

Also at those events, Big C would find more new suppliers to meet increasing demand for regional specialty goods of local consumers, she said. On the other hand, those would help businesses and cooperatives to cooperate with Big C in selling local agricultural products at the Big C supermarket system in the long term.