Hanoi (VNA) - The Ministry ofIndustry and Trade (MoIT) will enhance trade promotion programmes and give moresupport to businesses to increase their competitiveness in the local market in2018.

Nguyen Loc An, deputy head of theministry’s Domestic Market Department, said the economy saw positive changeslast year.

The prices of energy and agriculturalproducts saw an increase last year while those of metal items reported adecrease.

The goods market has been relatively stablethanks to cooperation among the ministries and localities, bringing down theconsumer price index (CPI) to a low growth rate of 3.53 percent for 2017, lowerthan the Government’s target.

The total revenue from retail sales andservices reached 3.93 quadrillion VND (174.85 billion USD) in 2017, surging10.9 percent year on year.

Tran Duy Dong, director of the department,said the country’s goods market this year would be affected by the priceincrease trend of materials and fuels in the world since the end of 2017.

On the other hand, abnormal changes in theweather will also have an impact on the people, agricultural production and thesupply-demand of necessities. The prices of goods which are under the Statemanagement, such as electricity, healthcare and education, will continue to beadjusted according to the set roadmaps, Dong said.

He said the ministry had focussed onimplementing 71 projects to develop the local market, closely linking with themovement of ‘Vietnamese give priorities to Vietnamese goods by 2020’ with the aimof promoting local trade.

It will concentrate on local trade promotionactivities, especially during the holidays and Tet (Lunar New Year) whilelaunching big events with wider reach rather than small and repetitive ones.

The ministry has been implementing supplyand demand connection and price stabilisation programmes to create abundantgoods supply and stable prices.

The MoIT has also asked domestic businessesto establish and develop supply chains, especially in the agricultural sector.

In addition to this, it will give supportto small- and medium-sized enterprises to improve their products’ quality andcompetitiveness. It will give solutions on market management, anti-counterfeitgoods and protection of consumers’ rights.

“The ministry is collecting opinions forits strategy for local trade development by 2025 with a vision for 2035. Thestrategy targets a domestic trade value of 11 quadrillion VND by 2025 and 44quadrillion VND by 2035,” he said.

However, it suggested that ministriesshould continue to follow the market changes and remain active to implementpolicies to control inflation.

The MoIT will try to limit the tradedeficit and implement market forecasts in a better manner to have timelysolutions. It will also mete out strict punishments for trade fraud andspeculation activities to stabilise the local market.

Exporters turn to home yard

After achieving successes in exportinggoods to foreign countries, many exporters decided to return to the localmarket, as they could reap greater advantages in Vietnam’s deep integrationwith the world economy.

Nguyen Quang Vinh, who is in charge of thelocal retail sale at Duc Viet Company, told Hai Quan (Customs) newspaper thatall their interior products for children had been exported to foreign marketssuch as the United States and the European Union.

However, in 2013, the company decided toinvest in the local market, as the demand for the products in Vietnam has beenon the rise, and many foreign firms started paying attention to the market.

Duc Viet now dominates the interior productmarket for children in Vietnam, thanks to the advantages of being a local firmwith attractive designs, Vinh told the newspaper.

Honey and Coffee Company Limited has beenexporting honey to the US and Japan for 10 years. However, Nguyen Van An,company’s director, said the local firms found it hard to build their owntrademarks in the foreign markets. Most of the exported products were underforeign brand names.

So, he decided to invest in the localmarket four years ago. His company has invested in three plants in HCM City, BinhDuong and Dong Nai provinces.

Pham Thai Binh, director of Trung AnHi-tech Farming JSC, said that in addition to rice exports to many countries inthe world, the company had started selling rice in the local market since 2015.

Binh was quoted by the newspaper as saying thatwith a population of more than 90 million people, the local market has been agood consumption channel. Many rice producers have paid attention to the localmarket as people’s awareness about clean and organic rice has improved. - VNA