With disadvantages, export situation in many localities is quiet

Enterprises make efforts to find orders in the context of general difficulties. Photo: N. Thanh

In Binh Duong province, assessed by the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, in the first quarter of 2023, the province's import and export turnover decreased over the same period, which reflects the difficulties of enterprises due to the lack of export orders. As a result, the import demand for raw materials and accessories compared to the previous year also fell.

Industry associations reflect that from the third and fourth quarters of 2022 up to now, the signing of new export orders for key products of Binh Duong province such as wood, footwear, textiles, and ceramics have faced difficulties. Due to high global inflation and rising bank interest rates, the consumption of goods in the main export markets is very low.

Particularly, export orders of main export products all decreased by 20 to 50% over the same period, leading to a decrease in export turnover of key commodities. The decline in world demand challenges Vietnam's exports in general and Binh Duong province in particular.

Similar to Binh Duong, in Binh Dinh province, the export turnover has not reached the plan because the export market for a number of commodities has been narrowed, many businesses have not found new orders, and consumer demand is low, leading to a decrease in order value. Moreover, the conflict in Ukraine has affected the economic situation of the countries.

Moreover, according to local assessments, the prices of raw materials keep escalating along with high inflation in countries such as the US, UK, and EU. Furthermore, the disruption of supply chains, high inventories in countries, and the demand tightening of people in other countries in recent years have affected the consumption of export products of the province. The opening of China's economy after the control of the Covid-19 pandemic also exposes Vietnamese goods to more severe competitors in export markets.

In Ben Tre province, the situation is similar. Currently, most of the province's key export enterprises (coconut, seafood, textiles, footwear, bags, electronics) have not had large orders for the whole year or have reduced orders. Foreign customers suggest very low purchase prices. Enterprises face difficulties in purchasing raw materials for production, while the inventory of large import customers of provincial enterprises in two major markets, Europe and America, is still high.

According to information from Phu Yen Department of Industry and Trade, manufacturing enterprises, especially those involved in exporting, face many difficulties due to order shortages.

For the wood industry, the output in the first quarter of 2023 decreased over the same period which resulted from the global economic recession, and slow growth, especially in the main export markets such as European countries, America, and Japan. Normally, in March every year, businesses receive orders for production for the next 6 months and receive information about expected orders until the end of the year to be proactive in preparing wood materials. However, at present, businesses only accept orders to produce for the next 1-2 months. Besides, the cost of input materials escalated, especially transportation costs.

For the garment industry, output in the 1st quarter also decreased by 3.9% over the same period. As a matter of fact, the number of orders in 2023 of businesses is very small, even unable to exploit new orders due to rising inflation in the US, UK, and EU, which are the main markets of the garment industry along with the world economic chaos which has directly affected the production and export activities of domestic enterprises.

As for the cashew kernel processing industry, currently, a number of businesses have temporarily suspended their operations, while others are producing in moderation or switching to outsourcing to retain workers.