Vietnamese-made goods have regained local consumers’ confidence, but they need to be improved more in terms of quality and design to capture the local market.
The statement was made by participants at a seminar on November 11 to review one year of implementation of the Politburo’s policy on prioritizing Vietnamese-made goods.
Ho Thi Kim Thoa, deputy minister of Industry and Trade, said the “Vietnamese people use Vietnamese goods” campaign launched by the ministry in line with the policy created favorable conditions for local firms to enhance their prestige and boost their production and sales.
Through the campaign, local consumers have been well aware of Vietnamese companies’ production and business capacities, and quality of their goods and services, she added.
According to a survey conducted by the TV Plus Company, 58 percent of Vietnamese consumers have been interested in locally-made products compared to 23 percent one year ago.
Vietnamese goods now hold larger spaces in trade centers and supermarkets. At present, locally-made goods occupy 95 percent of shelves at Big C supermarkets, while they take up 70-80 percent of shelves at Hapro supermarkets.
Not only urban areas have benefited, the ministry has also brought domestically-made goods to rural areas where about 90 percent of goods sold at markets are Chinese or have unknown origins.
During one year, cities and provinces organized 80 Vietnamese goods fairs in rural areas with 1,124 stalls selling products of 857 enterprises. The fairs recorded a total turnover of nearly VND1.5 trillion.
Meanwhile, the Center for Research and Support for Businesses organized 53 fairs in rural areas with the participation of 734 enterprises, recording a total turnover of VND39 billion.
Le Xuan Ba, head of the Central Institute for Economic Research and
Management, said though local production has increased, enterprises have still faced many challenges to make their products capture the market.
He said enterprises didn’t care about the local market for too long so they have had to spend too much time and money to penetrate the market.
In addition, though quality and design of Vietnamese goods have been improved but they remain poor, while goods prices are high, he added.
Mr. Ba said there is currently a paradox that when enterprises can make high-quality products with attractive designs, they don’t sell the products on the local market but export them, only poor-quality products are sold in the country.
