COST PRESSURE STILL HUGE

A representative of BRG Retail Co., Ltd. said that from the beginning of the year until now, goods suppliers entering BRG's supermarket system have increased prices by 5-15%. In the recent adjustment period, although gasoline prices fell deeply but remained high, suppliers have not yet adjusted prices.

“To produce goods, businesses must operate both a complex production and supply chain; Therefore, price adjustment needs time and process, not an immediate increase/decrease. Therefore, the impact of this reduction in petrol prices will have a certain lag on commodity prices in general and on essential commodity prices in particular," a BRG representative said.

In the same opinion, expert Vu Vinh Phu also said that although gasoline prices fell quite deeply, consumer prices in the market are unlikely to fall at the same rate. Many commodities will still be anchored at a high level and the price level in the market will not have a strong adjustment.

Before the continuous adjustment of petroleum products, Dr. Nguyen Bich Lam, former Director of the General Statistics Office, said that for many years, when gasoline prices increase, the prices of essential goods and transportation charges will increase immediately. However, when the price of gasoline fell, the prices of these items were not adjusted down accordingly because businesses needed time to adjust and balance production costs.

“Besides, the retail distribution network is dominated by the traditional market system. Therefore, traders and small traders for profit always actively and urgently increase the selling price of goods, but are reluctant to reduce the selling price of these goods," added Mr. Lam.

Therefore, according to Mr. Lam, with the price level has not changed drastically, the pressure on labor costs as well as operating costs of enterprises will still be large.

However, in the context of developments in petroleum supply, and the tense Russia-Ukraine conflict, the world oil price is difficult to predict, this adjustment also helps to "cool down" the price increase and alleviate the pressure on oil prices. The cost burden is on businesses, "said Mr. Lam.

STILL A LOT OF DIFFICULTY

Although the fear of petroleum has been eased, many exporters are now worried about the risk of a possible shortage of production materials because of supply disruptions, especially in the electronics, wood, textile, and garment industries. shoe leather…

Specifically, sharing about the difficulties that textile enterprises are facing, Mr. Truong Van Cam, Vice President of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), said that despite the production and business situation of enterprises. The textile and garment industry in the first 6 months of 2022 achieved positive results with 6 months' export turnover reaching 22.3 billion USD, up about 23% over the same period last year, but the export target of 43 billion USD set by VITAS "Still can't confirm".

Similar to the textile and garment industry, Vietnam's leather and footwear enterprises are also facing the risk of a shortage of raw materials for production even though export orders are full until the end of the year.

Ms. Phan Thi Thanh Xuan, Vice President of the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (Lefaso), said that manufacturing enterprises are at risk of having to slow down export deliveries because their Chinese partners are short of containers. empty to transfer raw materials. Moreover, the supply of raw materials on the supply side of China also decreased because many factories had to suspend operations to cope with the Covid-19 epidemic.

Currently, China is an important market for both export and import activities of Vietnam, in which China provides the majority of input materials for production of Vietnam in industry groups. electronic components, machinery parts, fabrics and chemicals.

In particular, the group of raw materials and accessories for the textile and garment and footwear industries imported into Vietnam mainly originated from China, accounting for about 50-52%. Meanwhile, China is currently implementing the Zero Covid strategy, the source of exported goods is very limited, many factories in China also have to temporarily stop production to fight the epidemic, the shortage of containers at ports .. import and export activities were greatly affected.

According to VITAS calculations, for cotton alone, in the context of high gasoline prices and supply disruptions, cotton prices in the first six months of the year increased by 19%. This puts great pressure on the production activities of enterprises in the coming months.

Not only is there a shortage of supply, Ms. Phan Thi Thanh Xuan said that businesses in the leather, footwear and handbag industry also face problems such as a high inventory rate (about 40%) due to high inflation in other regions. Exporting countries cause people to tighten their spending, high logistics costs, and a shortage of labor resources for production.

Concerningly, according to Mr. Dau Anh Tuan, Head of Legal Department, Vietnam Confederation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), although the difficulties faced by businesses are numerous, the problem of environmental improvement Investment and business in recent years have not been strongly deployed, not creating a driving force to promote economic growth.

SUPPORTING STRONG BUSINESS

In order to reduce difficulties for businesses and create conditions for businesses to take advantage of market opportunities to gradually recover and break through again after the pandemic, Mr. Dau Anh Tuan said that improving the business environment needs to continue. further promoted.

"In which, simplifying business conditions needs to be improved more strongly, specialized inspection needs to be more reasonable for businesses when the level of improvement shows signs of slowing down," the VCCI representative recommended.

Meanwhile, a representative of Lefaso said that it is necessary to focus on removing "knots" in the supply of raw materials - a big problem that is causing many manufacturing enterprises, especially those producing export goods, very " headache".

In addition, Ms. Phan Thi Thanh Xuan suggested that there should be more policies to develop supporting industries in the domestic market, to gradually be self-sufficient in raw materials; in which, in particular, there must be coordination between businesses, ministries, branches and localities to deploy the fiber industry in some localities, have policies to support businesses in terms of credit, land, tax...

According to Mr. Nguyen Anh Duong, Head of the General Department, Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), in the face of a disproportionate increase/decrease between petrol prices and market prices, if the Government and the State If the association continues to consider tax reduction policies with gasoline to stabilize market prices, not to put more pressure on businesses in the midst of current difficulties "encircling" businesses, it is necessary to consider making quick decisions. .

“Petroleum price increase will cause commodity prices to increase immediately. But when gasoline prices drop, it's possible that commodities won't drop accordingly. Therefore, the faster the reduction in gasoline prices, the sooner it will be effective in controlling inflation," Duong said.

Ngan Ha

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