Authorities work to ensure sufficient supply of goods for yearend market

Stockpiling, maintaining stability

Vietnam has ensured a sufficient supply of goods and stable goods/service prices in the first three quarters of this year despite the Covid-19 pandemic, according to information released at a September meeting of the domestic market management working group.

To cope with the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has urged its affiliates at municipal and provincial level to ensure adequate supplies of essential goods.

Departments of Industry and Trade have been asked to closely monitor markets and encourage businesses to stockpile goods if necessary and stabilize the prices of essential goods, especially in areas hit by the coronavirus.

Businesses are required to report to the Ministry of Industry and Trade their plans for distributing essential goods and reaching contracts with manufacturers of health safety products such as face masks and hand sanitizers that will ensure their availability at reasonable prices.

“The Ministry relies on a system of retail stores and large distribution systems engaged in the market stabilization programs. Goods stored in the distribution systems of such programs have increased 500 percent. Some major distribution systems have stockpiled enough essential goods to last until December,” said Le Viet Nga, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Domestic Market Department.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO), retail sales of goods and services totaled VND441.45 trillion in September, up 2.7 percent from August, taking the total to almost VND3,674 trillion in the first nine months of this year, up 0.7 percent from the same period last year.

Businesses are preparing to ensure a sufficient supply of goods for the remaining months of the year

Boosting supply-demand connections

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai has been working with some supermarket systems in Hanoi on ensuring the supply of essential goods and preventing the COVID-19 pandemic. Representatives of Co.opmart and Big C supermarkets said the supply of goods at their supermarkets still meet demand. Businesses have also increased home deliveries.

Tran Tri Dung, Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade’s Trade Management Division said that from now to year’s end, the department will promote connectivity between banks and businesses, enabling enterprises to borrow capital at low interest rates, in order to stimulate sales and production in the remaining months of the year. The department will also organize trade fairs and exhibitions to promote supply-demand connectivity, he said.

A supply and demand connection program between Ho Chi Minh City and 41 other localities took place from September 24-27 with the participation of 531 businesses and nine big retail systems. This year, nine major retailers, including Saigon Co.op, Satra, Lotte, Big C, Citimart, Aeon, MM Mega Market, Bach Hoa Xanh (Green Groceries), and Emart, and other import and export businesses participated in the event to seek goods for their stores and help find distribution channels.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade said it would support businesses in contacting, negotiating and signing memorandums of understanding and contracts. In the short term, businesses may join the program free of charge.

The program is an opportunity for supermarkets and trade centers to connect with producers and create a more favorable and professional supply connection chain. High-quality products and specialty products with export potential will be supported to expand their market.

Ho Chi Minh City prepared its market stability maintenance plan for the whole year when the epidemic broke out in March, considering increases in the supply of goods, especially essential goods, Dung said. The city will ensure an adequate supply of goods from now to the end of both solar and lunar year, and will be ready to cope with a new wave of the pandemic should once occur, he said.

Hoang Thi Dieu Hong, Head of the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade’s Trade Management Division, said the department built a program for stimulation of consumer goods sales and production in the remaining months of this year. The city is also working with the northern mountainous provinces of Ha Giang, Son La, and Hoa Binh to help them sell goods in the capital.

From now to the end of the year, Hanoi will organize a series of trade promotion events, including trade fairs associated with the Buy Vietnamese Goods campaign, more than 30 sales of goods trips, and 12 Vietnamese goods fairs and regional specialty fairs to meet the growing demand for goods in the remaining months of this solar and lunar year.