The campaign “Buy Vietnamese goods” – a movement that encourages Vietnamese people to give priority to choosing made-in-Vietnam goods – has been deployed for four years and attained positive results. “Made in Vietnam” goods have gradually replaced imported ones on the domestic market. According to the Central Steering Committee for the “Buy Vietnamese goods” Campaign, 71 percent of the consumers trusted Vietnamese high-quality goods and 80-90 percent of Vietnamese goods are displayed for sale at supermarkets in the country. In market price stabilisation points (totally over 9,000), nearly 90 percent of goods are made in Vietnam.
Helping economic stability
The localisation ratio in made-in-Vietnam products has kept rising 25 percent a year on average since the “Buy Vietnamese goods” campaign was launched, according to the survey by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Besides, the campaign’s results have helped the country successfully complete major economic indicators. Total retail value of goods and services in 2013 was estimated at VND2,617,963 billion, an increase of 12.6 percent over 2012 (an year on year growth of over 10 percent since from 2009), the consumer price index (CPI) rose 6.81 percent in 2012, far lower than the estimation of 10 percent by the National Assembly and only 6.04 percent in 2013, the lowest growth in 10 years.
Thanks to this campaign, the country’s trade deficit kept narrowing, from US$12.3 billion in 2010, equal to 17.3 percent of exports and lower than the government-set target of 20 percent, to 9.89 percent of exports in 2012, lower than the government-set target of 16 percent. Particularly, Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus in 2012 and 2013 with US$287 million and US$862 million, respectively.
505 trade promotion projects
The Ministry of Industry and Trade approved 505 projects affiliated to the National Trade Promotion Programme as of December 16, 2013. These projects received VND493.3 billion from the State Budget. More than 251 development projects aimed to develop rural, mountainous, border and island markets, receiving over VND180 billion of State financial support (49.7 percent of projects and 36.4 percent of total budget).
Regarding countryside peddling, the provincial/municipal Departments of Industry and Trade organised nearly 1,700 trips with over 13,000 participating companies which organised more than 24,000 booths, attracted nearly 3 million local people to visit and buy, and collected more than VND1.78 trillion of revenue. Particularly, in border provinces, events not only attracted local people but also citizens from neighbouring countries like Laos and Cambodia.
As regards market stabilisation, most localities in the country focused on developing distribution systems to facilitate consumers to access Vietnamese products of guarantee quality and reasonable price. They also paid particular attention to low-income earners in industrial zones in rural areas. Through more than 9,000 price stabilisation points of sale and mobile vendors to rural areas, industrial zones and export processing zones, consumers have access to products of assured quality and affordable price, thus boosting up production and business activities and directing and encouraging consumer habits in Vietnam.
Inspiring patriotism
At a working session with the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the “Buy Vietnamese goods” campaign on January 8, 2014, Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, Nguyen Thien Nhan, said that in addition to mobilising people to promote the patriotism, purchase and use Vietnamese goods, it is necessary to connect patriotism of the people and enterprises centred on three pillars: Inspiring patriotism – Making cheap and good products – Enhancing communication.
Currently, the campaign still has limitations. It does not have specific targets to make assignments to ministries, agencies and localities. At present, only 40 provinces and cities have steering committees but only three provinces have regulations on operations of this steering committee. Only 34 provinces and cities and seven ministries and agencies have made reports. For that reason, it is essential to review the organisation to change it from a general campaign to an obliged campaign.
Ms Ho Thi Kim Thoa, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, said, after four years of deployment, this campaign has profound social implications as it has strengthened the trust of the people, the foundation for implementation in the following years. However, she remarked that action plans for this campaign are varied from locality to locality, thus it has not created a solid distribution channel for Vietnamese goods. In the meantime, personnel of market forces are thin while equipment and facilities are not enough.
The “Buy Vietnamese goods” campaign has become “lifesaver” for exporters. Previously, local companies always considered the domestic market their “backyard” and shipped premium products to foreign countries. When they refocused the home market, they were aware of its potentials created by over 90 million consumers. Mr Le Tien Truong, Deputy General Director of Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), said Vinatex’s affiliates had to expand scale to meet the domestic market in 2013. If the domestic market makes up for a half of revenue, the group will consume nearly 250 million square metres of cloth plus dozens of thousands of tonnes of knitted fabric.
Huong Ly
Đăng ký: VietNam News