OPPORTUNITY TO REPLACE CHINA IN THE US MARKET

OPPORTUNITY TO REPLACE CHINA IN THE US MARKET

The US imposition of 25% tariffs on Chinese goods is opening up an opportunity for many Vietnamese enterprises to replace the neighboring country’s suppliers in the market that has great purchasing power with good price.

However, to grasp this opportunity, businesses need to enhance their own self capacity.

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At the workshop: “Trade war: Future of Manufacturing Enterprises?” hosted by the Saigon Times in cooperation with Bluescope Vietnam, Mr. Ho Duc Lam, Chairman of Vietnam Plastics Association and the Board of Directors of Rang Dong Plastic JSC, said that he had recently met with many American and European companies which are mass suppliers for big retailers such as Walmart, IKEA, etc. These companies’ products have been long manufactured in China but now shifted to Vietnam due to the outbreak of the trade war and 25% tariffs on Chinese exports.

Meanwhile, some enterprises in the wood industry said that they had frequently received foreign partners’ emails inquiring about goods, especially which are not the strength of Vietnam, such as kitchen cabinets. This industry has set the export target for $20 billion by 2025, becoming the global furniture hub in Vietnam. The US – China trade war is considered the catalyst for this target because wood products, China’s major exports, have been subject to the third round of US tariffs in September (up from 10% to 25% from the beginning of 2019).

Plastic and wood products are just two among many types of goods which Vietnam can export more to the US, replacing Chinese goods which are highly taxed. As analyzed by Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Development Manager, Fulbright University Vietnam, at a recent workshop, considering the third round of tariffs, on $200 billion of Chinese goods, the opportunity is coming to three main product groups.

The first group is consumer goods such as wood furniture. China is exporting wood products into the US with the turnover of over $32 billion/year while that of Vietnam is currently $4.6 billion/year. However, Vietnamese goods will also have to compete with other big players from Germany, Italia, Canada, etc.


The second is leather goods, mainly suitcases and bags, excluding footwear (because the US has not taxed this type of product). China is exporting $7 billion of leather products to the U.S and the World Bank estimates that the turnover of this group will decrease by $1.9 billion when the tariff policy comes into effect. Meanwhile, the turnover of leather goods in Vietnam is $1.1 billion.


The last group is processed agricultural goods. The products exported from China will be subject to 10 – 25% tariffs. Among these, seafood products will be hit hardest, the turnover decreasing by roughly $700 billion. With the same shrimp species exported to the US, Vietnam can take over China in the section of shrimp products.

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However, according to Mr. Thanh, while these product groups show the potential to flourish in the export market, they are under heavy pressure in the domestic market. It is simply because China may shift to export these products to other markets in Asia, including Vietnam, instead of the U.S. Enterprises in the business of furniture, agricultural products, suitcases, bags and even chemicals, plastics and consumer goods in the domestic market may have to vie with cheap Chinese goods.

At the workshop: “Trade war: Future of manufacturing enterprises”, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, former President of the Vietnam Institute of Economics, called this situation two sides of the same coin, meaning advantages and disadvantages always go hand in hand. Therefore, enterprises should acknowledge opportunities and challenges in a flexible way, avoiding “small benefits” because “when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers”. The short-term vision will make them always “grass”.

From the same viewpoint, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, Director of the WTO Center, VCCI, said that with the “superpower” to compete on price, Chinese enterprises can overcome 25% tariffs of the US. Therefore, Vietnam just has the opportunity to step into China’s shoes to some extent, and whether the enterprises can grasp this opportunity depends on their own internal assets.
Experts advise that to take advantage of this immediate opportunity as well as others in the future, enterprises have to enhance their own self capability and improve competition advantages by good investments in human resources, technology etc. to surpass industry competitors, becoming “the chosen one” who remains stable whether the trade war continues or terminates. This is also the way to enter and explore many other attractive markets which are opening to us under the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) signed by Vietnam. In principle, the more market diversification and the less dependence on any market is, the better immunity and self-balance from fluctuations is.
“From our own experience, we totally agree with these recommendations. We remain steady by focusing on the core advantages and market diversification. Most importantly, we always open up our mind to be the first to seize the incoming opportunities,” said Mr. Vo Minh Nhut, General Director of NS Bluescope Vietnam.