Unblocking space, creating breakthroughs for supporting industries

Vietnam has identified supporting industries as the foundation for promoting the development of key industries, contributing to the process of economic restructuring towards modernization and deep integration into the global supply chain. However, in reality, domestic supporting industry enterprises are only participating in low-level, small-scale processing stages. Therefore, the urgent requirement is to improve production capacity, management skills and link production cooperation in the chain between domestic enterprises and FDI enterprises.

The “gap” that needs to be filled

According to Mr. Vu Ba Phu, Director of the Trade Promotion Agency, Ministry of Industry and Trade , our country currently has about 5,000 supporting industry enterprises, mainly operating in the fields of mechanics, electronics, textiles, and footwear. Of these, nearly 88% are small and medium-sized enterprises, most of which use outdated equipment, only about 10% of enterprises apply automation and less than 20% have achieved ISO certification or applied modern management models such as 5S, Lean, TQM. Therefore, most domestic enterprises only participate in low-level processing stages, making it difficult to access large-scale and high-standard orders from leading corporations.

Meanwhile, the localization rate of many key industries remains low. The automobile industry has not yet reached the target of 40% localization, and the electronics industry, despite the presence of many large corporations, has a limited proportion of components produced in Vietnam. This shows a large gap in the supporting industrial ecosystem that needs adequate investment to increase domestic production value.

In addition to domestic resources, foreign direct investment (FDI) is playing an increasingly important role in the supporting industry. In 2024, the processing and manufacturing industry alone attracted more than 25.5 billion USD of newly registered FDI capital, accounting for nearly 67% of the total FDI capital in Vietnam. Fields such as the production of electronic components, precision mechanics, auto parts - electric motorbikes, etc. are being focused on investment and development by many multinational corporations and FDI enterprises. In particular, Japan continues to be one of the strategic investors, making important contributions to the development of key industries, especially supporting industries in Vietnam.

Production activities at Lien Hiep Kim Xuan Joint Stock Company - specializing in manufacturing industrial nails and zinc wire for domestic and export purposes.

Complete the ecosystem

To promote the development of the supporting industry, many opinions say that domestic enterprises need to actively innovate technology, management methods, and improve competitiveness to participate more deeply in the global value chain. Along with that, Vietnam needs to promote selective FDI attraction, increase connections between FDI enterprises and domestic enterprises to improve the production capacity of supporting industries in Vietnam.

Mr. Vu Ba Phu emphasized: In the context of the global supply chain being reshaped, Vietnam is emerging as a new strategic manufacturing center in Southeast Asia. The Vietnamese Government pays special attention to developing supporting industries with many preferential policies on investment, trade and technical support... to increase the localization rate and reduce import dependence.

“The Trade Promotion Agency has been coordinating with the Industry Department, the Foreign Investment Agency, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and a system of nearly 60 Vietnamese Trade Offices abroad to proactively implement many investment promotion programs in the field of Industry and Trade. In particular, focusing on regular connections with potential FDI enterprises to expand opportunities and cooperation spaces towards forming strong connections, connecting the value chain of Vietnam's industrial production,” said Mr. Vu Ba Phu.

According to a survey by the Japan External Trade Organization, more than 56% of Japanese enterprises in Vietnam plan to expand their investment in the next 1-2 years, especially prioritizing supporting industries. This shows the confidence of international investors in the investment environment in Vietnam and the potential for development of the supporting industry sector if there is a systematic and synchronous strategy.

According to Mr. Masaru Onaga, CEO of Onaga Vietnam Co., Ltd., simplifying the process is what Vietnam needs to do so that Japanese enterprises can carry out procedures themselves when entering Vietnam without having to rely on intermediary consulting companies. Vietnam also needs to standardize the format of the types of documents that need to be submitted, and provide specific examples of how to fill in the information; establish a checklist so that applicants can check themselves before submitting, thereby reducing the rate of returned documents due to missing or incorrect information.

Many opinions suggest that the Vietnamese Government continue to strongly implement incentive policies, creating favorable conditions for domestic enterprises and foreign investors to participate in the industrial production ecosystem, thereby increasing the localization rate and reducing dependence on imported supplies.

Mr. Chu Viet Cuong, Director of the Center for Industrial Development Support, Department of Industry, Ministry of Industry and Trade, said: The Government has just issued Decree No. 205/2025/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 111/2015/ND-CP on supporting industry development, effective from September 1, 2025. Decree 205/2025/ND-CP has upgraded and introduced more extensive and comprehensive support policies for the supporting industry sector than before. For example, increasing the level of financial support up to 70% for market development activities, technology cooperation; supporting up to 50% of costs for product testing, intellectual property and quality standards; support up to 70% of costs to improve consulting quality... At the same time, simplify administrative procedures, allow online application submission and increase decentralization for localities, create favorable conditions for investors... to develop a modern supporting industrial ecosystem with competitive capacity and international integration.

Thus, Decree No. 205/2025/ND-CP is considered a "medicine" to remove difficulties, while paving the way for the supporting industry to make a breakthrough in the coming period.

Article and photos: MY THANH

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/khoi-thong-du-dia-tao-dot-pha-cho-nganh-cong-nghiep-ho-tro-a190349.html