HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City’s exports are still growing, butslowing down, and so it needs to take measures to boost them if it wants toretain its position as the country’s economic hub, a conference heard onOctober 17.

Speaking at the conference on the city’s investment and export situation, NguyenThanh Phong, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said export growthhas fallen below 10 percent a year in the last 10 years.

Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, deputy director of the city's Department of Industry and Trade,said the city’s exports as a ratio of the country’s has gradually decreasedfrom 50 percent in 2000 to just 16 percent last year when it was around 38billion USD.

China is still the city’s largest market, followed by the US, Japan and theRepublic of Korea, he said. But exports to the EU account for a very low rate,not commensurate with the potential, he said.

Exports are increasingly dependent on foreign businesses. In 2005, Vietnamesecompanies accounted for 55 percent of the city’s exports but last year foreignfirms accounted for 51.1 percent.

Many items with high export turnover such as electronics products, textiles andfootwear are mainly produced and exported by FDI firms.

Dinh Cong Khai, Director of the Institute of Public Policy, said the city'sexports have been losing their competitive advantage, and its ability todiversify its export products and markets remains low. Its export has stillfocused on quantity growth, and there is no export development strategy basedon its comparative advantages.

The most obvious outcome is that its export growth rate tends to be lower thanthat of other localities like Bac Ninh, leading to a decrease in the proportionof its exports to the country’s, he said.

According to Khai, the city has have not properly assessed the causesconstraining export growth based on the competitiveness of industries and theirvalue chains.

Besides, the city has not identified industries and products with high exportgrowth potential and their competitive advantages based on scientific analyses,he said.

It is necessary to evaluate the competitiveness of export products andindustries to identify which ones the city should support for boosting exports,he added.

Delegates said in the short term the city has to continue exporting productgroups that fetch large revenues such as electronics, textiles, footwear,agriculture - fisheries, rubber, chemicals, and furniture, but must activelyprepare the foundations for upgrading industry and restructuring exports in thelong term.

Talking about export orientation for the next decade, Hoa said the city wouldfocus on quality and move towards export support services, enhancing theexports of intangible goods and services such as software and digital contentand improving value addition.

The city would work to improve the competitiveness of industries with highexport growth potential and help enterprises diversify their export markets,especially those that have free trade agreements with Vietnam, and developtheir human resources, he said. 

It would also further improve administrative services and have policies tocreate a sound environment for businesses to boost exports, he added.

Do Ha Nam, General Director of the Intimex Group JS Company, said the cityshould further improve its logistics and transport infrastructure to facilitateexports.

Phi Anh Tuan, Deputy Chairman of the HCM City Computer Association, said thecity needs to have policies to support universities in training human resourceswho could handle new technologies in future and help businesses adopttechnologies to transform their operations./.