Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) will promotedomestic market consumption to contribute partly toenhancing socio-economic development.

Inthe context that the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting export, investment andtourism activities, the domestic market continues to be a bright spot in themacro-economy for short and also long-term economic growth, according to theministry.

Therefore,the MoIT has implemented solutions to ensure a balance between supply anddemand of goods and stability of the domestic market by year-end and until theLunar New Year in 2021.

Inaddition, the ministry has been implementing specific programmes and measuresto stimulate consumption and encourage efficient and sustainable development ofthe domestic market.

Italso focuses on supporting enterprises to implement programmes and solutions tostimulate domestic consumption and for customers nationwide to increaseconsumption of domestic goods.

Meanwhile,departments of industry and trade in provinces and centrally-run cities arerequired to ensure supply of essential goods in the localities.

Theywill organise conferences to connect producers, suppliers and retailers andevents for producers and traders, especially small traders, to bring goods toresidential areas, industrial parks, and rural and mountainous regions.

Theministry will enhance business methods on encouraging consumption, such as thenight economy, fairs, exhibitions on products and services. It still continuesto implement the programme "Vietnamese people give priority to usingVietnamese goods".

Besidesthat, MoIT will also promote the application of information technology (IT) anddevelop e-commerce activities.

Ofwhich, the ministry will complete a draft amending and supplementing somearticles of the Government’s Decree No 52/2013/NĐ-CP on e-commerce to completelegal documents for trading of goods on e-commerce platforms.

Itwill strengthen further management of transactions on major e-commerce sitesand develop sanctions to handle violations which are damaging to consumers'interests.

Theministry will continue to implement activities fighting trade fraud andsmuggling, as well as counterfeit and poor quality goods. Those activities willcontribute to protecting domestic production, business and consumption.

Itreported the total retail sales of consumer goods and services in October wereestimated at 450.8 trillion VND, up 2.4 percent month on month and 6.1 percentyear on year. Of which, retail sales of goods reached 356.5 trillion VND, up2.5 percent month on month and up 11 percent year on year.

Inthe first 10 months of this year, the total retail sales reached 4.1quadrillion VND, up 1.3 percent over the same period last year. Of which, theretail sales of goods in 10 months reached 3.3 quadrillion VND, accounting for79.1 percent of the total and up 5.4 percent year on year.

Thesefigures showed that retail continues to be one of the important factorscontributing to growth of the domestic market and also to national GDP growth,especially during the current difficult period, according to theministry.

ToHoai Nam, vice chairman and general secretary of the Vietnam Association ofSmall and Medium Enterprises, said in the context of COVID-19 at present, thedomestic market was the lifesaver for businesses both in the short and longterms.

Whenthe local businesses come back to the domestic market, Vietnam could reducedependence on imported goods. That would create more sustainabledevelopment of the domestic market in the future.

VinhHoan Joint Stock Company is considered a large export enterprise with a largeexport value of tra fish products. However, this company has returned tothe home market with a supply of nearly 20 processed tra and basa fishproducts meeting export standards.

TruongThi Le Khanh, chairwoman of Vinh Hoan JSC, said every year the companyprocessed over 300,000 tonnes of tra fish for export to 40 countriesand territories.

Meanwhile,consumers in the domestic market do not have many opportunities to enjoyhigh-end pangasius products, according toKhanh.Therefore, Vinh Hoan wants to return to the domestic market and bring exportproducts to local customers. At the same time, the domestic market can offset aportion of its revenue when exports have reduced due to the pandemic.

Forretailers, revenue from the domestic market is still growing though thepandemic has caused local consumers to tighten their spending, reported the Cong thuong (industry and trade)newspaper.

NguyenThi Phuong, deputy general director of Central Retail Group, said her group hadworked with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to organise a series of eventsconnecting producers, suppliers and retailers, so many products meetingquality, food safety and hygiene standards are distributed at the company’sGO/Big C supermarket system.

Alsoat those events, Big C would find more new suppliers to meet increasing demandfor regional specialty goods of local consumers, she said. On the other hand,those would help businesses and cooperatives to cooperate with Big C in sellinglocal agricultural products at the Big C supermarket system in the longterm./.