HCM CITY — The Supporting Industry Exhibition and Supply Chain Linkage Forum 2025 opened on December 4 at the WTC EXPO in HCM City, gathering more than 200 enterprises, 60 industrial parks, and over 3,000 visitors from Việt Nam and abroad.

Co-organised by the city Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC), the Việt Nam Association for Supporting Industries (VASI), the city Supporting Industry Association (HASI) and the Institute for Policy and Development Strategy Management (IPADS), the two-day event aims to strengthen domestic supply capacity and deepen Việt Nam’s integration into global value chains.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Cao Thị Phi Vân, ITPC deputy director, noted that Việt Nam’s trade reached a historic milestone this year, with total import-export turnover surpassing US$801 billion as of November 15.

Exports amounted to $410.28 billion while imports hit $390.74 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $19.54 billion.

However, she stressed that the country still relies heavily on imported components and semi-finished goods, citing import values of $6.62 billion for computers, electronics and parts, and $2.59 billion for machinery and equipment.

“These figures clearly show the enormous room for growth in Việt Nam’s supporting industries,” she said.

HCM City has identified supporting industries as one of its core sectors, focusing on four priority tasks: improving mechanisms and policies; developing specialised industrial zones; promoting technological innovation and digital transformation; and expanding linkages between domestic suppliers and global manufacturers.

At the forum, Trương Thị Chí Bình, vice chairwoman and general secretary of VASI, said the association now has more than 420 member enterprises with combined revenues of $4.58 billion in 2024.

Vietnamese supporting-industry firms are supplying key sectors including automobiles, motorcycles, shipbuilding, electronics, semiconductors, renewable energy, medical devices and aerospace.

She added that exports to North America and Japan have shown encouraging growth, signalling improving competitiveness.

To sustain this momentum, VASI recommends enterprises strengthen cost management, select suitable customer segments, diversify partners and shift from single-component production to cluster components, OEM, ODM and eventually OBM capabilities.

Sharing business experience, Nguyễn Ngọc Đăng Khoa, deputy director of Business Development at SMC Precision, highlighted a global shift from globalisation to regionalisation, driven by the “China +1” strategy.

This creates opportunities for Vietnamese firms to become tier-2 and tier-3 suppliers, yet also introduces higher demands for automation and digital transformation.

Smart Factory 4.0 standards, including 100 per cent traceability via QR codes, are becoming mandatory.

Participants also discussed challenges in logistics costs, quality control, technology investment, digital adoption, and technical workforce development, which remain major bottlenecks for local suppliers aspiring to enter deeper into global supply chains. — VNS