On the afternoon of April 21, the Provincial People's Committee held a conference on business dialogue, promoting export activities in 2022. Mr. Le Hong Vinh - Member of Provincial Standing Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of Provincial People's Committee; Pham Van Hoa - Director of the Department of Industry and Trade co-chaired the conference.

Overview of the conference

Goods in the province are exported to more than 125 countries and territories around the world

Deputy Director of Department of Industry and Trade Cao Minh Tu reports the results of import and export activities in 2021 and the first quarter of 2022

At the conference, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade Cao Minh Tu said that despite being heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Nghe An's export activities in the past year achieved remarkable achievements with 2.43 billion USD, increased by 60.77% compared to 2020 and exceeded 102.5% compared to the planned target in 2021. In which, export of goods reached 2.11 billion USD, up 76.04%, exceeding 132.2% of the plan in 2021.

Many products with the province's strengths had strong growth in turnover such as: Sheet metal, steel of all kinds increased by 157% over the same period last year; Cement increased by 17.8%; Textile and garment increased by 38.1%; Electronic components increased more than 17 times; Wood and wood products reached 184.8 million USD; Aquatic products increased by 66.7%; Cassava and cassava products of all kinds increased by 42%. Notably, the proportion of processed exports is increasing; especially forest products, minerals, construction materials, processed aquatic products and some processed agricultural products such as dried tea and processed fruit juices.

Goods are exported to more than 125 countries and territories around the world with many new markets such as: East Timor, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Marshall Islands, Luxembourg, etc.

The number of enterprises participating in exporting increased, with 270 enterprises in the province, including 188 enterprises within the province and 82 enterprises outside the province participating in exporting goods of Nghe An province. Budget revenue from import and export activities reached 1,657 billion VND, an increase of 32.4% of the adjusted provincial People's Council estimate and an increase of 40.5% compared to 2020.

Enterprises propose to solve difficulties

In the current global and regional economic situation, unpredictable fluctuations are expected: The COVID-19 pandemic is still complicated; The competition between major countries shows no sign of ending. Notably now, China's new regulations on measures to tighten the COVID-19 pandemic; strengthening supervision and strict implementation of regulations on import of agricultural and aquatic products on the land border has made the province's enterprises difficult in transporting, clearing and exporting goods to China, etc.

The representative of Kido Vinh Co., Ltd. reflects the shortage of human resources, increased production costs due to increased transportation costs and raw material costs

Faced with that situation, at the conference, enterprises reflected that rising fuel prices had a great impact on their business activities; in addition, the freight charges are high, the profits for export shipments are very low, even if there is no profit, enterprises also have to do to maintain relationships with customers.

The enterprise asked the Provincial People's Committee and leaders of relevant departments and branches to pay attention and support to remove difficulties for enterprises, such as: Having appropriate policies to support enterprises to solve the problem of shortage of human resources; establishing a club connecting export enterprises in the province; supporting to find output for products of enterprises, etc.

As a unit specializing in the field of freight transport, import and export, the representative of Vilaconic Joint Stock Company proposed the province to have policies such as export bonus according to turnover; complete investment in port logistics infrastructure, etc.

A representative of Royal Foods Nghe An Co., Ltd - a canned fish food processing enterprise said that in recent years, due to the situation of raw materials of Layang scad and Herring in the country, it is not enough to serve production. Therefore, the Company has to import herring materials from abroad to serve production, in which the source of herring materials from Russian fishing boats will face difficulties in exploiting due to the recent war between Russia and Ukraine.

Faced with that situation, the Company asked the province to have a mechanism to support enterprises during difficult times in terms of raw materials, and at the same time, proposed to the central departments and branches to have a support mechanism and extend the time for the tax-exempt list; support to reduce income tax scale, tax exemption, tax delay for enterprises to provide financial support or support preferential loan packages for enterprises to revive production, etc.

In addition, some enterprises reported border congestion and difficulties when carrying out customs clearance procedures for goods at the Vietnam - China border gate because the Chinese side frequently closed the border gate without notice. Enterprises want the situation at the border gate to be resolved and Chinese customs authorities to be able to inspect goods and quarantine them with quick and reasonable procedures to help Vietnamese enterprises deliver goods to recipients soon.

Deputy Director of the Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Vi Ngoc Quynh offers solutions to help enterprises have enough human resources to ensure production and business activities

Deputy Director of the Department of Transport Nguyen Van Hai responds to the proposals of enterprises related to sea freight rate adjustment; seaport infrastructure planning; connecting railway logistics

Before the proposals of enterprises, leaders of relevant departments and branches had answers to remove difficulties for enterprises; clarify the issues of concern to enterprises.

Promoting the development of export markets

Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Hong Vinh speaks

Speaking at the conference, on behalf of the provincial leaders, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Hong Vinh recognized, appreciated and praised the efforts, the results achieved along with the important contributions of the branches, localities, import-export enterprises to the province’s socio-economic development in recent years.

In addition to the achieved results, according to the Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, although exports in 2021 had a remarkable growth, it is still not really sustainable and the efficiency is not high. Although export products are diverse, the scale is still small, depending on the source of goods from outside the province and foreign markets. Import-export enterprises in the province are mostly small and medium enterprises with small production and business scale. Infrastructure and logistics services for export are limited, etc.

By listening to the reflections and proposals of enterprises, the Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee shared with the difficulties that import-export enterprises are facing in the current context.

In order to maintain and promote export activities, strive to complete and exceed the turnover target in 2022, contribute to stabilizing the macro economy, ensuring social security, etc. in the coming time, the Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested the relevant departments, branches and units to organize the implementation of the export development project in Nghe An province in the 2021-2025 period; on that basis to form and develop major export products and groups. At the same time, effectively implementing the tasks in Plan no. 496/KH-UBND dated August 27, 2021 of the Nghe An provincial People's Committee on improving competitiveness and developing logistics services in Nghe An province to 2025.

Along with that, actively promoting investment promotion calling for domestic and foreign investors in Nghe An to invest in production of export goods; promoting the development of export markets through activities of connecting export supply and demand, participating in international exhibitions, etc. Striving to bring some more Nghe An products for export to both create jobs and improve the value of products, build and promote Nghe An's trademark in the international market.

The province encourages small-scale export enterprises to move to official export. Researching market needs to advise on the production of products suitable to the needs of the world market. The province will support enterprises in professional training, consulting, and providing information related to import-export activities and international economic integration, etc.

On the side of enterprises, the Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee suggested to regularly exchange information on the production, import and export situation with relevant agencies to promptly solve difficulties and problems in the process of exporting goods. Enterprises need to renew their thinking and develop long-term production and business strategies. In particular, the innovation, creation and development of quality products associated with brand building must be more focused than ever.

Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Hong Vinh also exchanged and answered specific questions about enterprises' concerns and proposals at the conference.

Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Hong Vinh awards the Certificate of Merit of the Provincial People's Committee to 05 enterprises with excellent achievements in export work in 2021

Phan Quynh