HCM City (VNA)✤ – The HCM City administration has instructed relevant departments to take targeted measures to help local retailers strengthen their competitiveness and retain market share before they lose out to foreign rivals.

Speaking at a meeting to review the city’s socio-economic performance in the first five months and plan for June, People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong ordered the Department of Industry and Trade to complete zoning plans for commerce-services development, develop the city’s brand name and identify its key products. Leading Republic of Korea’s retailers in Vietnam regard the country as a promising growth market and will source products from small and medium-sized enterprises in Korea, according to Phong. Japan’s Aeon is working towards making Vietnam its second biggest retail market in Asia after Malaysia. Thai retailers have entered the country, acquiring Metro, Big C Vietnam, e-commerce firm Zalora and others. Foreigners now make up 51 percent of the HCM City retail market, and “If we do not have a suitable development strategy for the retail market, it will be dominated by foreign investors in future,” he warned. This would adversely affect domestic production, he added. Many delegates urged the city to soon adopt measures to support local retailers and producers. Phong said he would hold a meeting on how to develop the retail market in a sustainable manner. He urged departments, agencies and districts to continue with measures to achieve the city’s socio-economic targets. "The city needs to focus on promoting production and trading, resolve difficulties faced by businesses and improve the investment environment to attract more investment from domestic and foreign investors," he said. Strengthening trade promotion activities to boost export and soliciting investment in targeted sectors would be among the tasks the city would focus on, he said. According to a report tabled by the People’s Committee at the meeting, the city economy achieved robust growth in the first five months, with the retail and service sectors and exports reporting a higher turnover than in the same period last year. Retail and services revenues are estimated at 288.55 trillion VND (12.93 billion USD), a year-on-year increase of 11.2 percent. Exports increased by 1.2 percent to reach 11.89 billion USD, with coffee, rice, computers, electronic products and accessories seeing a significant rise. Industrial production rose by 6.4 percent year-on-year, with some sectors such as machinery and equipment, beverage, electronics, computers and optical devices enjoying high growth. The city’s four key industries – mechanical engineering; electronics; chemicals; and rubber, plastics and food processing – achieved higher growth than a year earlier. The tourism and transport sectors also enjoyed good growth.-VNA