HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Businesses in the Ho Chi Minh City price stabilisationprogramme have been encouraged to become more innovative in the face of toughercompetition, experts have said.

The city programme has attracted the participation of 37 enterprises, includingmajor firms with popular brands. Firms in the programme have to register theirprices with the city’s Department of Finance. Prices must be 5-10 percent lowerthan market prices.

Face masks and hand sanitisers have been added to the list of essential goodsin the 2020-2021 programme. The 10 other items are rice, noodles andvermicelli; sugar; cooking oil; eggs; cattle meat; poultry meat; vegetables;processed foods; seafood; and seasonings.

According to the experts, the essential goods under the programme are facinghigh competition in the market, especially products of cattle meat, poultry,eggs, processed foods, and dairy products.

Firms that use science, technology and innovation will be able to improve theirproductivity and competitiveness.

In recent years, Vietnam Nutrition Food JSC (NutiFood), which participates inthe programme, has invested and cooperated with world-famous dairy corporationsto develop raw materials for domestic and export markets.

In 2018, NutiFood contributed 50 percent of the investment in strategiccooperation with Sweden's Skånemejerier Ekonomisk Förening Company, the secondlargest nutrition group in Sweden and Backahill Group to build the NutifoodSweden plant.

In 2020, Nutifood officially took over 100 percent of the project andestablished the Swedish Nutifood Research Institute (NNRIS) to standardise milklines for the Vietnam market.

Swedish companies have experience in providing safe, sustainable andenvironmentally friendly manufacturing solutions.

They are helping Vietnamese enterprises develop the nutrition sector, saidBjörn Savlid, Trade Commissioner of Sweden to Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Ngoc An, general director of Vissan Joint Stock Company, theleading processed foods in Vietnam, said that 100 percent of pork and meatsupplied for processing meets VietGAP standards and traceability requirements.

Vissan has also shifted from purchasing pigs from hundreds of different farmsto cooperating with strategic suppliers that can control food quality andsafety, as well as provide stable prices. Vissan also checks and analyses theratio of fat and meat per pig in the barn to ensure fair purchasing prices forsuppliers.

Late last year, the HCM City Business Association unveiled a digital transformationprogramme for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to improve theircompetitiveness.

The programme will help SMEs gain better access to digital transformationsolutions at reasonable costs. A portal will be built to support the digitaltransformation efforts, and a digital transformation solution package calledService Catalog will be established to support businesses./.