The COVID-19 epidemic has increased the cost of goods due to the disruption of the logistics chain

Supply of goods is seriously affected

Recently, a research team from the National Economics University has conducted a survey on the bad fluctuations of the economy in recent months, especially due to the complicated developments of the COVID-19 epidemic.

The research team said that, since the fourth outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic, many provinces and cities across the country, especially the two largest cities, were forced to distance themselves, putting the country’s economic locomotive at risk. supply chain disruption. Not only that, the problems of disruption of labor resources due to distance, material sources when fees are high and the situation of banning movement between regions and localities also seriously affects the economy. More worryingly, there were 85,500 businesses withdrawing from the market, up 24.2% compared to 2020, Ho Chi Minh City alone accounted for 28.1% and the number of businesses temporarily suspending business was 43,200 enterprises.

Talking about this issue, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thu, Chairman of Bagico Bac Giang Company, said that the continuous disruption of goods due to the COVID-19 epidemic has caused both businesses and consumers to suffer losses due to expenses. costs and prices are unreasonably high. For example, the price of 1 kg of vegetables in Binh Phuoc is only 8,000 VND, but because of the lack of logistics supply chain, the price of vegetables when going to Ho Chi Minh City increases to 70,000 – 80,000 VND/kg.

“Due to being unable to transport, many items have to be abandoned, especially agricultural products, causing heavy damage to farmers. Typically, in the last durian crop in the Central Highlands, all technical workers were “stuck” in the West, unable to move to the Central Highlands to harvest and transport. Meanwhile, many places that have made a purchase deposit are helpless because durian is ripe but lacks people to harvest and transport. We ourselves were also pressured and the supplier was willing to drop the deposit. This is a huge waste,” shared Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuc.

For the international market, the disruption of the seaport supply chain has had a heavier impact on Vietnamese agricultural products. In particular, the current shortage of refrigerated containers for agricultural products is a huge problem, leading to very high import and export transportation costs. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuc said that this will affect the peak serving for Tet goods in about 2 to 3 months. Up to this point, the logistics connection between countries in the region is still difficult and broken. Faced with this problem, many agricultural enterprises and import-export enterprises are really confused and do not dare to receive goods for transportation.

Sharing about the requirements of the US market for the Vietnamese supply chain with a number of products such as agricultural products and textiles, Mr. Bui Huy Son, Counselor in charge of the Vietnam Trade Office in the US said, logistics and supply chains in Vietnam as well as any other country in the world must respond “fast – much – good – cheap”. This means that the US side requires logistics in the markets to ensure quality when the goods arrive, and the price must be competitive.

It can be said that the United States is the world’s largest import market with more than 2 trillion USD per year. Therefore, the volume of goods transported, transactions, the scale of the system, the goods receiving infrastructure over the years are very new. However, due to the severe impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, especially in 2020, the US suffered the most damage, accompanied by a logistics crisis spreading to other countries around the world, including Vietnam, especially is the transport of goods by sea. Accordingly, the export of goods, mainly agricultural and aquatic products with very high requirements in terms of timing, timing and seasonality to ensure the quality of fresh and delicious goods… of Vietnamese enterprises is also affected. heavy influence.

Dismantling supply chains in the “new normal”

In order to facilitate and remove the supply chain for production and transportation, the Prime Minister recently asked relevant ministries and branches to create favorable conditions for businesses to restore production and business, ensure circulation. goods…

The content is stated in the Prime Minister’s Directive on the resumption of production in industrial production areas in the context of COVID-19 disease prevention and control signed by Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh on October 3. So far, the epidemic has been gradually controlled, but according to reflections and recommendations of businesses, associations, industrial parks, many production and supply chains have been broken. canceled many domestic production orders, shortage of labor force for production.

Therefore, in order to remove difficulties for businesses with the principle of “production must be safe, it is safe to produce”, the Prime Minister asked businesses to play the role of subjects in the process of restoring production and business. , to closely coordinate with the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities to agree on the production plan, goods circulation, travel and accommodation of employees; The plan must ensure absolute safety to prevent and control the epidemic in the context of complicated epidemic developments.

The provinces and cities with the responsibility to be the direct management agencies of enterprises, urgently set up a steering committee to restore production, assign specific tasks to implement the plan, and approve the production and business plan. of enterprises, ensuring both production maintenance and safety against epidemics; and at the same time guide to remove difficulties in a timely manner regarding investment procedures and infrastructure development of industrial parks and economic zones; remove obstacles and create favorable conditions for experts and foreign workers to enter, conduct isolation in accordance with regulations of the Ministry of Health; guiding tax exemption and reduction policies, promulgating mechanisms to support interest rates, credit…

Previously, the research team of the National Economics University also sent a petition to the Government to recommend a policy to remove the unbroken logistics supply chain. Specifically, in addition to the requirement that the driver must receive 2 doses of the vaccine and have a negative test certificate according to regulations, each locality should also immediately organize a buffer zone of logistics centers to unload and rotate goods. for the needs of businesses and local residents; organize patrol teams on national highways and provincial roads; ensure that goods are not unloaded or transported outside the specified area. At petrol and oil refueling stations, there must be a quick test area, isolating drivers when refueling, and clearly specifying rest stops, including routes to and from.

In addition, it is recommended to build an electronic application (App) “Safe labor resources during the epidemic season” to inform recruitment and temporary jobs in industrial parks, provinces and cities to help “green area” workers. “With jobs right away, businesses that meet production conditions can easily access safe labor sources.

In the long term, the research team believes that logistics must be in place in the planning and implementation of the COVID-19 prevention and control strategy to ensure adequate, synchronous and timely physical and human factors. donors for the prevention and control of COVID-19. The COVID-19 prevention and control strategy must be accompanied by a unified logistics strategy.

Accordingly, the Government and ministries and branches also need to perfect logistics legislation and institutions in order to create a favorable legal basis for logistics activities in the market in all situations; supplement and complete the policy of developing logistics enterprises through the development and implementation of mechanisms and policies to encourage the diversified development of these enterprises with all types of transport.

In particular, comprehensively renovate the national reserve system to further enhance the role, mission and national reserve tool in the logistics system in the face of unpredictable fluctuations. Moreover, it is necessary to invest in the development of logistics infrastructure (including logistics industrial parks, logistics centers, logistics clusters …) synchronously and modernly, towards building the logistics real estate market in Vietnam.

With the local government, it must be consistent with the direction of the Government and central ministries and branches; abolish the anti-epidemic regulations implemented inconsistently in localities, which are causing barriers for production, business and service-providing enterprises in the process of supplying goods; have timely and prompt policies to mobilize all local resources, from human, material and financial resources in a timely manner to replace long supply chains with short supply chains in epidemic-hit localities.

Associations and research groups suggest that information needs to be supported from focal points of consumption: wholesale purchase, retail purchase, consolidation, market price, consumption potential… Support information from suppliers safety: wholesale, retail, online sale, price, infection prevention methods; connect with service providers or other country associations to assist in the implementation of supply contracts with reasonable costs, especially for container transportation, forwarding procedures, especially for goods in transit. import, export and specialized goods for the prevention of COVID-19 epidemic in the fastest and most timely manner.