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(VEN) - The Vietnames economy in 2011 was affected by external factors such as the European public debt crisis and the recession of developed economies. Domestically, bad weather had negative impacts on production, input materials costs increased and Vietnam had to tighten its monetary and financial policies to curb inflation. Despite this, under drastic directions of the Government and with positive responses from businesses and the society, goods supply and demand remained stable and gradually showed improvements.
Stability and development
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), despite difficulties and challenges of the economy in 2011, goods supplies were increasingly plentiful in terms of specifications, varieties and quality, meeting increasingly diverse domestic demands. Many enterprises reinforced and developed their distribution systems, deployed new forms of wholesale and retail businesses in the direction of modern and professional development. The traditional market network was enabled to develop and basic commodities such as books, salt and paraffin oil were ensured to be provided to mountainous regions and islands. Therefore, the supply and demand balance of essential commodities was guaranteed and met production and consumption demands and avoided "hot prices and hot goods". However, as prices of many items increased plus complicated developments of the weather and epidemics, the supply of several agricultural and food products declined, resulting in the increase of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which had bad impacts on people's lives.
The total retail sales of goods and services in 2011 were estimated at more than VND2 trillion, an increase of 24.2 percent compared with 2010 which is quite high in the context of abundant difficulties facing the economy.
Notably, in 2011 the distribution system in "chains" was established and developed as an objective indispensable rule of "economies of scale" theory. Also, the franchise market was gradually established and helped to expand the sale networks and combined with power resources from small enterprises to form a large scale and well organized system.
In addition, the market management works were paid more attention than before. The market management forces cooperated with relevant agencies to keep control of the market. Offices which are in charge of domestic market in conjunction with Departments of Industry and Trade did a good job of forecasting supply, demand and prices of some essential commodities such as rice, food, petrol and fertilizer, bringing out specific solutions to restrain speculation and stabilize the market.
Continuous expansion
According to MoIT, the top priority of the Government in 2012 is to ensure supply and demand balance of key commodities to meet people's consumption demand in any circumstances. To attain this goal, MoIT will develop production and distribution systems of important and essential commodities, gradually develop modern distribution systems (supermarkets, commercial centers and convenient stores) in large cities and urban areas and continue the campaign "Vietnamese buy Vietnamese goods". In addition, it will promote trade promotion activities to expand domestic trade, especially in rural and mountainous regions and electronic commerce application to create modern distribution channels. It will also enhance market management operations to fight against smuggling and fake and low quality goods to ensure a healthy and fair competitive environment for enterprises of various sectors and protect the consumer's interests.
The total increased retail sales of goods and services in 2012 are estimated to increase by 22 to 23 percent compared with 2011, to more than VND2.4 trillion./.
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