Compared with 2016, the index of industrial production (IIP) this year is expected to increase by nearly 8.5 per cent; turnover from retail goods and consumer services by 10.9 per cent; and export turnover by 15.1 per cent.

Industry and trade reached added value of around VND356 trillion (US$15.8 billion), accounting for 33.6 per cent of the city’s GRDP.

“The breakthrough growth of four key industries — food processing, chemistry-rubber engineering, electronics and information technology — saw significant achievements with IIP 1.83 times higher than that of national industry,” Pham Thanh Kien, director of the department, said.

“Infrastructure for modern trade included an additional 18 supermarkets, three shopping malls, and 218 convenience shops compared with 2016. There was remarkable growth of online trade, which contributed to commodity retail and consumer service turnover,” he added.

City authorities have launched many support policies for enterprises. Enterprises in the industry and supporting sectors can now borrow capital of up to VND200 billion ($8.9 million) per project, with preferential-loan interest periods lasting seven years.

This year, the city organised 35 trade promotion campaigns by connecting international retail groups with local producers and helping enterprises expand market share in neighbouring provinces and international markets.

Rapid establishment of new enterprises, with nearly 330,000 this year, an increase of 8.45 per cent, also contributed to growth.

However, most of the new enterprises were micro and small-sized companies, which have difficulty accessing preferential capital from the Government and banks.

The supporting industry has gained initial achievements, but is not strong enough to meet material demand for local producers.

“In the coming time, the trade and industry department will promote trade focusing on key markets with trade surpluses with Viet Nam of over $1 billion, like China, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand,” Kien added.

“We will focus on policies to help supporting enterprises so they can take advantage of free trade agreements, and develop technical barriers to minimise any negative impact from such agreements,” he added.

Economists have said that HCM City must identify its export advantages and focus all resources to promote key export industries like electronics, computers, software and digital content and services.