Kien Giang (VNA) – The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang earned over275 million USD in export revenue in the first half of the year, lagging behindthe set target, according to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade.

Although the export value is 1.45 percent higher than the same time last year,it only accounted for 40.4 percent of the yearly plan, said director of thedepartment Ngo Cong Tuoc.

He pointed out falling demand for rice and leather shoes were the main reasons.

Prices of rice slid 84 USD per tonne on average as compared to first half of2018, and there were only three out of seven rice export firms operating, withmajor markets of China, Ghana and the Philippines.

Rice shipments to the Chinese market alone tapered off 70 percent, and merelyone third of the local firms overcome technical barriers like warehouses andmilling capacity.

Meanwhile, leather shoes firms’ exports made up over 32 percent of the target asmost of the orders relied on parent companies.

Other factors that affected export activities included unstable seafoodmaterial supply, weak management capacity of local companies, and highstandards in food safety and environmental protection of the importers.Furthermore, key exports have not given brand names, and value chain has notbeen well developed in the province.

The department said that the province is striving to gain 405 million USD fromexports in the second half, the only way that helps it achieve the target of680 million USD for the whole year.

Competent authorities have kept a close watch on local firms’ businessactivities, and helped them remove bottlenecks in capital, material sources,labourers, and technology investment.

To take full advantage of the freshly-inked EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement andthe EU-Vietnam Investment Protection, the province will pay heed to tradepromotion campaigns to expand new markets and consolidate traditional ones.-VNA