The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) has recently coordinated with the General Department of Customs (GDC) to organise a seminar on “Applying e-commerce to support Vietnamese exporters to penetrate the United States market in the context of global economic recession.” This is part of the national project called “Supporting enterprises to apply IT to serve integration and development in the 2005-2010 period.” The workshop was carried out by the Institute of Information Technology for Business (ITB) under VCCI in collaboration with OSB Technology and Investment Joint Stock Company - the distributor of the US-based TraderFax.Inc’s services in Vietnam.
The workshop was expected to provide valuable information about the US market in 2009 in the context of global economic recession and bilateral import-export statistics of Vietnam and the US, and train skills to search US importers through the bill of lading system on the internet.
Mr Vu Tien Loc, President of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “Although Vietnam has not deeply integrated with the global financial market, its export-oriented production, with certain weakness in exploiting the domestic market with 80 million people, is significantly affected by the ongoing global financial crisis. The Vietnamese economy suffered serious impacts in stock market, credit activities and export, in which export is hit most. Vietnamese export markets are downsizing while its trade deficit exceeds 5 per cent”. Thus, he said e-commerce will be an effective solution and a new orientation for enterprises to expand export markets, especially the US - a large and potential destination. Besides, he also stressed the role of enterprises in expanding e-commerce development and making it an effective instrument to boost export activities.
Mr Nguyen Duy Khien, Director of the American Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), informed opportunities and challenges in making inroads into the US - an enormous, diversified and demanding market.
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TraderFax provides timely and accurate information to American customs bill of lading data which are regularly updated in 5-7 days. To give a deeper understanding of the Traderfax service, Mr Bui Duc Tuan, Business Director of OSB Technology and Investment Joint Stock Company, guided enterprises skills to search US importers through the online bill of lading system on the internet.
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Vietnam earned some 20 per cent of its total export revenue from the US market but accounted for only 0.4 per cent of US’s total import spending. Vietnam has more favourable opportunities to make a way into the US market than Japan and Europe. The reputation of Vietnamese companies in the US increased while US importers tended to send their contracts into Vietnam.
The crisis dented the import spending of the US but Vietnam’s growth in exports to the world’s largest consumer was still higher than other nations. Moreover, the large Vietnamese community in the US is a sheet-anchor for searching information to penetrate the US market.
However, Vietnam is also encountering certain challenges. For example, the US market is far-lying while Vietnamese business scales remain small. Additionally, Vietnam meets up with certain disadvantages such as generalized system of preferences (GSP), unilateral treatments of US for certain nations and FTA treatments. Last but not least, Vietnam is competing with many major rivals, especially China.
Mr Nguyen Duy Khien emphasised the role of e-commerce in making a way into the US market such as B2B and B2C e-commerce floors and B2B and B2C website models. The interface and content of the website are very important in international trade when foreign partners search for information.
At the seminar, Ms Nguyen Thi Minh Huyen, Deputy Director of E-commerce Development Centre under the E-commerce and IT Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, introduced an important e-commerce portal at
www.thitruongnuocngoai.vn website, which cover market information in 190 countries and territories and is updated by 60 chambers of commerce and units of MoIT.
Mr Phan Sinh, Deputy Director of IT and Customs Statistics Department under the General Department of Customs, also informed of import-export activities in the US in recent time.
Attending enterprises also had a chance to meet and discuss with leaders of responsible State-owned agencies on difficulties they encountered in deploying e-commerce for import-export activities.
The similar workshops with the same subject are expected to be opened in Da Nang City and Ho Chi Minh City in the near future.
Nguyen Thoa
Vietnamese
