Linking production and consumption - Experience in Ho Chi Minh City

The results after three years of implementing the Trade Cooperation Program, connecting supply and demand of goods between Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces and cities of the Eastern and Southwestern regions show that Ho Chi Minh City has gradually affirmed its role as a center connecting supply and demand of goods in the Southern region and gradually cooperated comprehensively in trade with the provinces and cities of the Eastern and Southwestern regions, contributing to promoting Vietnamese goods in the domestic and international markets.

Thanks to the effective implementation of the supply-demand connection program, Ho Chi Minh City and many localities have had more favorable conditions in the production and consumption of goods.

The provinces and cities in the East - Southwest region have many products with local and regional competitive advantages, especially agricultural products. However, according to many localities, to participate in modern retail channels, the distribution system of Ho Chi Minh City as well as the provinces and cities in the East - Southwest region is not easy.

Ho Chi Minh City and provinces, cities and enterprises signed a cooperation agreement on connecting supply and demand between Ho Chi Minh City and provinces on October 31, 2014.

Due to not having a good grasp of market demand, localities often fall into a situation of producing and supplying their own goods without paying much attention to market demand. This leads to many types of goods, especially agricultural products of localities, often falling into a state of good harvest and losing value. On the other hand, retailers have not actively invested in building and forming purchasing systems, warehouses, and transit locations to support local production and business units in consuming goods. This makes it even more difficult for goods in localities to access the markets of large cities. However, since the implementation of the program to connect supply and demand of goods, the production and consumption of goods of localities has become much more favorable.

Mr. Truong Quang Hoai Nam, Vice Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee, said that the most practical benefit that the program brings to farmers and livestock units is to create conditions to access capital sources, feel secure in investing in production and stabilize product output. In 2013 alone, Can Tho City had 15 enterprises signing 24 memorandums of understanding with 5 major distributors including Co.opmart, Maximark, Citimart and Tu Son private supermarket. These memorandums of understanding have been implemented and initially effective, typically An Binh vegetable farm, Sau Tia honey wine, purple sticky rice cake... have had products put into business at these supermarket systems.

According to the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City, after 3 years of implementation, the supply-demand connection activity has promoted the signing of 520 contracts for product supply and consumption; two-way revenue reached a total value of more than 19,000 billion VND, in which the city's enterprises consumed goods worth more than 13,000 billion VND from the provinces and cities of the East - Southwest region and supplied goods worth more than 6,000 billion VND to localities. Up to now, Ho Chi Minh City enterprises have implemented 69 investment and production linkage projects with a total capital of nearly 24,000 billion VND in the provinces and cities of the East - Southwest region, in which the pioneers in this program are units such as Saigon Trading Group (SATRA), Pham Ton Company Limited, Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk), Ba Huan Company Limited, etc.

Assessing the effectiveness of this cooperation program, leaders of many southern provinces and cities emphasized: The trade cooperation program, connecting supply and demand of goods between Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces and cities of the Eastern - Southwestern regions has become a marketing tool, a channel to introduce goods and create conditions for local businesses to access modern distribution systems more conveniently and effectively, while helping distribution businesses and retailers in Ho Chi Minh City to find reputable and quality suppliers of goods, reducing costs for surveying, searching for sources of goods and purchasing raw materials.

Ms. Le Ngoc Dao, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City, said: The program is not only a foundation for building cooperative relationships in the field of trade between Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces and cities of the East - Southwest region, but also creates a strong influence, attracting the attention of many enterprises in the provinces and cities of the Central, Central Highlands and the North such as: Ba Kich wine (Quang Ninh), Dong vermicelli (Bac Can) ... In addition, the Program has closely connected the Department of Industry and Trade of the provinces and cities in sharing information, coordinating synchronously to promptly handle market fluctuations, creating stability in the supply of goods, market prices and exchanging experiences.

According to Baotintuc