Ceramic industry makes attempts to overcome difficulties

The year 2018 is a successful year of Binh Duong ceramic industry, with a growth rate of 15%. Despite many pressures from rising price of raw material and workers' wages, ceramic enterprises in Binh Duong strive to expand their export markets in 2019.

Ceramic manufacturing at Phuoc Du Long Company.  

 Maintaining Vietnamese ceramic identities

Vietnam has 14 ceramic production villages, including Tho Ha, Chu Dau, Bat Trang, Phu Lang, Dong Trieu, Thanh Ha, Phuoc Tich, Bau Chuc, Bien Hoa, Tan Phuoc Khanh, Chanh Nghia, Lai Thieu, Vinh Long, Cay Mai. Of these, Binh Duong has 3 craft villages namely Tan Phuoc Khanh, Chanh Nghia and Lai Thieu.

Ly Ngoc Minh, Chairman of Binh Duong Ceramics Association, said that Binh Duong province had only about 30 large ceramic companies but accounting for 70-80% of the country's ceramic export value, with hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Currently, many ceramic enterprises in the province invest in new technologies for manufacturing, increasing labor productivity to reduce the input price. Vuong Sieu Tin, Director of Phuoc Du Long Company, shared that although the policy for raising minimum wage will start from Jan 2019, the company has increased wages for workers since the beginning of 2018. Therefore, when this policy will take effect, the company will be active in cutting production costs.

According to Mr. Tin, Phuoc Du Long Company reviewed production stages to save energy and materials, minimizing input costs. While the price of raw materials for the ceramics industry is increasing, if businesses increase export price of ceramic products, they will make their partners unhappy. Enterprises should consider this as an opportunity to restructure production, improve quality to protect the reputation of Binh Duong ceramics.

According to ceramic artisans in the province, it is good that ceramic enterprises of Binh Duong make attempts to preserve Vietnamese ceramics.

Expectation of a successful year

Ceramics enterprises in Binh Duong are now focusing more on the domestic market. In recent years, well-known companies such as Cuong Phat, Minh Long, Minh Phat ... have continuously grown, partly due to good exploitation of the domestic market. For example, Minh Long has formed a chain of stores, showrooms specializing in household ceramics in the whole country. The domestic market is an important distribution channel for ceramics. In the future, there would be many ceramic enterprises returning to exploit the domestic market.

However, according to Ly Ngoc Bach, Director of Cuong Phat Ceramics Company, in 2018, Binh Duong's ceramic industry grew by about 15% but maintaining this growth rate in 2019 would be a great success, because of the increasing price of electricity, coal, gas, workers' salaries... However, most ceramic enterprises in the province anticipate difficulties to timely overcome solutions.

Currently, in Binh Duong, there are establishments and enterprises of ceramic industry that have been keen to shift their production method to improve product quality and aesthetics; actively turning towards high-end market. Some ceramics companies not only serve household needs but also interior and exterior decoration, architecture, and become big companies with export turnover of millions of USD each year like Minh Long, Phuoc Du Long, Minh Phat... Experts said that in 2019, the European Union market would reduce the import of Vietnamese ceramics; the US market would maintain their growth but not much, while the emerging market Southeast Asia would rapidly have increasing demand for import ceramics from Vietnam. According to experts, ceramic enterprises need to reorganize production, business, change technology, improve design, product quality, strengthen marketing, trade promotion... to increase competitiveness of ceramic products on domestic and foreign markets.

New Year 2019 is coming. Now many ceramic enterprises in the province such as Phuoc Du Long and Cuong Phat... are busy preparing to deliver goods to partners within Jan 2019. Hopefully, Binh Duong ceramics industry would continue to grow dynamically in the new year, thereby contributing to increasing export turnover of the province, while preserving the essence of Vietnamese ceramics in the context of our economy is deeply integrated with the global economy.

Reported by Phung Hieu – Translated by Ngoc Huynh