HCM City (VNA) – After finishing c💦onstruction of a factory that makes plastic materials, Hung Phat Co, Ltd of HCM City's Binh Tan district has quickly imported modern machines to expand produღction.

Nguyen Hung, its director, said sales have increased strongly thanks to good quality and competitiveness compared even to other countries in the region. The formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and Vietnam's free trade agreements have opened up export opportunities but also great competition even in the domestic market, he told Dau tu (Vietnam Investment Review). "To capitalise on the opportunities and overcome the challenges, I researched a lot to expand production scale to gain a firm foothold in the market and compete with foreign firms." Hoang Thanh Thuy, after working for a foreign garment company for more than 10 years, set up her own in 2012 with 20 workers. Two years later, with the country preparing to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and the imminent establishment of the AEC, she decided to expand. Now her company, Van Tuong Garment Co Ltd, has a factory in Tan Phu district with nearly 100 skilled workers. Last year she signed a large outsourcing order for the Japanese market. Japan is a fastidious market with stringent technical requirements, and so her company had to methodically invest in technologies and technical processes, she said. TPP would bring opportunities for her company to boost exports to Japan, she said, adding that she plans to buy more advanced machinery and equipment to expand production. Besides the garment and textile sector, the wood processing sector, with a large number of small- and medium-sized enterprises, will also benefit from international integration. Thien Huong Interior Co Ltd in Long An province are busy fulfilling export orders from the US. Nguyen Van Hoan, its director, said though he only runs a medium-sized company, he always keeps a close eye on information related to TPP and expects the wood products sector to enjoy its benefits since most Vietnamese companies import timber from and export products to member countries. While they lack the financial strength of large companies, SMEs have developed close linkages among themselves in each stage of production, which enables them to make quality products that are able to compete in global markets, according to the HCM City Business Networking Club.-VNA