Enterprises speed up preparation of Tet goods

SGGP Tuesday, December 14, 2021 17:18

Unlike previous years, manufacturing enterprises do not have much time to prepare for the Lunar New Year because all of them have just gone through a difficult period due to the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic. However, with positive signals of the market, enterprises are striving to increase output, as well as implement safe production solutions, so that the progress of supplying goods to the market for the Tet holiday will not be affected.

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Production at Saigon Aquatic Products Trading Joint Stock Company. (Photo: SGGP)

Following the growth of the market

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), although the Covid-19 pandemic continues to have unpredictable developments, the revenue of the domestic market is still considered as one of the bright spots of the macro-economy. Typically, the total retail sales of consumer goods and services in November this year is estimated at VND397 trillion, up 6.2 percent over the previous month.

In Ho Chi Minh City alone, the total retail sales rose from VND43 trillion in October to more than VND55 trillion in November. Keeping pace with the market growth, businesses across the country in general, and HCMC in particular, have been actively increasing their sources of goods, as well as operating at maximum capacity to keep up with the progress of bringing goods to the market.

It was recorded at Tuong An Vegetable Oil Joint Stock Company that the production lines were operating at maximum capacity to supply cooking oil products promptly for the Lunar New Year.

Mr. Bui Thanh Tung, General Director of Tuong An Vegetable Oil Joint Stock Company, said that the company actively produced and coordinated the source of raw materials to ensure the supply of goods to consumers. It prioritized developing equally all three popular, medium, and high-end segments, depending on the preferences and usage needs of consumers, and set a target of increasing 30 percent of output compared to last Lunar New Year.

Bibica Company also announced a plan to launch about 2,500 tons of confectionery during the Tet holiday. According to this business, having just gone through a prolonged pandemic, it does not have as much time to prepare goods as every year. However, sweetmeat is an indispensable item in every Tet holiday, so Bibica has urgently embarked on making Tet goods, with a product structure of about 70 kinds, from popular to high-end, to compete with imported goods.

As for processed foods, such as canned pork and fish, large enterprises, namely Vissan, C.P Vietnam, and Ba Huan, have imported raw materials and recruited more workers to produce goods promptly for the festive season.

“We plan to invest more than VND754 billion to prepare more than 2,800 tons of fresh food, up 8 percent, and more than 4,200 tons of processed food, up about 6 percent over the same period. The company is recruiting more workers and works overtime to produce enough food to serve the Tet market, especially items, such as Chinese sausages, spring rolls, sausages, and some new products,” Mr. Nguyen Ngoc An, General Director of Vissan Company, shared.

Balancing to keep prices stable

In previous years, the Tet market was always forecasted to be vibrant, with the purchasing power doubling or tripling compared to other months. This year, after a prolonged Covid-19 pandemic, many manufacturers and distributors assessed that the purchasing power might decrease. On the other hand, the preparation of goods for Tet also encounters some difficulties because the circulation of goods has not been fully restored. Besides, the price of input materials has climbed, potentially causing the product costs to increase by 20-30 percent more than before.

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However, many enterprises said they were trying to calculate to balance the expenses so that the product costs would not increase too much, beyond the affordability of laborers. Ms. Ly Kim Chi, Chairwoman of the HCMC Food and Foodstuffs Association, said that up to now, all enterprises in the industry had returned to production safely, meeting the requirements of pandemic prevention with 80-100 percent of capacity. Most enterprises had increased capacity, worked overtime to increase the volume of goods, stabilized prices, and ensured an adequate supply of goods to consumers during the end of 2021 and the Lunar New Year. Along with the increasing purchasing power in the domestic market, the purchasing power in the world market is also increasing strongly. The export turnover of goods only reached US$28.87 billion in October, but in November, it hit $29.9 billion, up 3.6 percent over the previous month and up 18.5 percent year-on-year. Currently, in the first 11 months of this year, the export turnover of goods is estimated at $299.67 billion, up 17.5 percent over the same period last year. There are 34 items with export turnover of over $1 billion, accounting for 93.5 percent of total export turnover, of which seven saw an export turnover of above $10 billion, accounting for 66.4 percent. Chairman of the Hepza Business Association in HCMC Nguyen Van Be said that 1,500 enterprises in export processing zones and industrial parks (EPZs-IPs) had returned to normal operation, with most of them having raised capacity to 100 percent to meet the demand of domestic and foreign markets. Enterprises and infrastructure investors of the EPZs-IPs are closely coordinating with health authorities to timely handle Covid-19 cases among workers, avoiding interruption of production activities, and helping enterprises to be able to confidently receive new orders in 2022.

By Minh Xuan – Translated by Thuy Doan

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