Delegates at a meeting in HCM City discuss solutions to develop the city’s key industrial products. (Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City will focus on developing keyindustrial products to raise its competitiveness.
The municipal Department of Industry and Trade met with more than 30 experts ata meeting in the city on July 25 to discuss ways to develop the city’s mainindustrial products.
HCM City is assessed as a dynamic city but its industries develop slowly, withno key products. The proportion of the four main industries is only 10 percentof its total Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP).
Speaking at the meeting, the department’s Deputy Director Nguyen Phuong Dongsaid the city’s economic growth rate had risen greatly in recent years, but itsdevelopment capacity had encountered shortcomings.
He said that competitiveness was not high, infrastructure degraded, and landrentals remained rather high compared to other localities.
Added value to products also remains low, and key products have not beenclearly identified, according to Dong.
Ly Thi Kim Chi, Chairwoman of the HCM City Food and Foodstuff Association, saidin the city only some of the 15 major industrial products selected before 2015were still available in the market, while others had disappeared due tocompetitive pressure.
The city resumed its programme on selecting major industrial products, butselection criteria should be reviewed to fit the current situation, she said.
There were many products of high added value, with a large market share indomestic market and exports, but they did not meet the programme’s selectioncriteria, she added.
Nguyen Van Hung, Chairman of the 28 Corporation, said the city should have along-term vision to serve as a basis for identification of key products.
As for the garment and textile sector, it is unlikely to remain in HCM City dueto the factors of labour, wages, infrastructure and logistics, among others.
Though garment and textile products would not be the city’s key products in thelong term, there should be a centre for designing and logistic services, hesaid.
According to participants, big branded products in the city are graduallylosing market advantage, with some producers shifting to produce goods in otherlocalities.
Since it was now becoming more difficult to identify key products, the cityneeded to have a multi-dimensional approach to the problem, they said.
If the criteria for selecting key products are based on size and market growth,the product will have a high risk because there is high potential for marketfluctuation.
Tran Quoc Toan, General Director of the Saigon Transportation MechanicalCorporation (SAMCO), said the city’s key products should focus on downstreamproducts combined with an industry development forecast.
These products must be associated with the city, and at the same time, the citymust develop a policy to create market space and opportunities for the keyproducts to develop.
For example, the city is encouraging the production of clean-fuel vehicles, butwith this policy, the city must also create ways for organisations andindividuals to use the vehicles.
Nguyen Thi Canh of the University of Economics and Law in HCM City said that itwas not necessary to have only high-tech industries or industries with highadded value as the main ones, but selection criteria should vary depending onthe industry.
Attendees at the meeting also said the city’s key products must beVietnamese-made products. In addition, the key products must be involved in thecity’s activities to promote investment and brand development.
The programme on developing the city’s key industrial products should focus onpriority sectors for development, especially the manufacturing sector with highadded value, participants said.
The city should have mechanisms to support sectors with high developmentpotential, while support should be done in an indirect way such as developinghuman resources and new production technology and data systems for the sectors,among others, they said.-VNA
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