Small companies export most of VN’s agricultural products

Viet Nam export billions of agricultural products each year, but most of the companies involved are small- and medium-sized, according to an official of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

Speaking at a conference in HCM City last Friday, Nguyen Huu Diep, director of MARD’s Department of agricultural enterprise renovation and management, said more than 90 per cent of companies from the agricultural sector had capital of only VND10 billion (US$480,000) each.

Six per cent have capital of between VND10 billion and VND50 billion ($2.4 million). Only one per cent of agricultural companies have capital of VND200 billion ($9.6 million).

In the recent financial situation, SMEs are expected to meet many difficulties in accessing loans from banks and approaching the international market, a representative of an association said.

According to MARD, companies should focus on raising the knowledge of human resources, renovating equipment and applying new technology in producing, adjusting business strategies to accord with recent financial situation, and strengthen ties with other enterprises and associations to heighten competitiveness.

Representatives of several associations from the sectors of cashew, coffee and seafood, claimed that the Government should have specific policies for them because their businesses affected not only their employees, but also dozens of thousands of farmer households.

To support the development of agricultural enterprises, MARD created several policies including financial aid by establishing the Credit Guarantee Fund for SMEs and an SME Development Fund to finance activities to enhance competitiveness.

MARD has suggested that the Government use land originally slated for industrial parks for SMEs instead. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam Agricultural exports

Posted by VBN on Mar 28 2011. Filed under Enterprises, Import-Export, Import-Export turnover. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry