According to the Da Nang Department of Trade and Industry, the city is likely to have earned an estimated 1.3 billion USD from exports by the end of this year, up 15% compared with the same period last year and fulfilling 100% of the year’s target. 

The city’s textiles and garments companies are maintaining relatively stable growth in exports due to regular orders from their traditional markets.  However, local seafood exporters are facing a decreasing demand from such traditional import markets as Japan, the USA and European countries.  In addition, these businesses are now being impacted by currency instability of the Euro and US dollar, and anti-dumping duties from the USA imposed on frozen shrimp products.    

Workers at a local business

Numerous bilateral trade agreements between Viet Nam and international organisations will take effect soon.  They all are expected to bring more challenges to Vietnamese businesses in general, and to those from Da Nang in particular. 

Therefore, the difficulties which the city’s businesses will face are their unstable production activities, fierce competition from foreign rivals, and the increasing trade barriers applied by international importers.   

The General Director of the Thuan Phuoc Seafood and Trading Corporation, Mr Tran Van Linh, said that Vietnamese seafood exporters were encountering difficulties in exporting their products to the USA despite this country’s tariff reduction on seafood imports.  He added that the main reason seems to be that the USA’s regulations for imported goods and origin of all imported ingredients are very strict.

The Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Viet Nam, Mr Herb Cochran, suggested that local businesses should make every effort to meet the strict requirements of their foreign importers.  A focus should be on fully tapping the great advantages of the recently-signed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement to further their development and boost international integration.

The Director of the municipal Department of Trade and Industry, Mr Phan Van Kha, remarked that his department was working closely with local relevant agencies to take effective measures to help local businesses stabilise their production activities and expand their export markets in the near future.