Nguyen Thi My Chau, director of the VNF Company in Binh Tan District, HCM City, said that her company has received garment orders until October 10 and is seeking for new orders, but Europe’s ongoing high inflation rate has slowed demand, posing more difficulties for the company.
Duong Quang Hiep, human resources manager of Hoang Thong Wood Ltd. Co., said that his firm was working at half capacity because of the decline in orders. This has forced the firm to reduce working hours, triggering a quarter of workers to leave their jobs due to lower income.
According to Nguyen Liem, chairman of Binh Duong Wood Processing Association, orders from key markets such as the US and Europe have sharply decreased. Meanwhile, prices of input materials and production costs have been on the rise, which has caused many wood processing companies to reduce production.
Tran Viet Ha, deputy head of the HCM City Export Ho Chi Minh City Export and Industrial Zones Authority, said that lots of local enterprises have had to reduce production.
Changshin Vietnam Company in Dong Nai Province which has 35,000 staff has witnessed a 30 percent decline in footwear orders. Many workers have stayed contracted but haven't worked since July.
Local recruitment has drastically fallen following lower order numbers according to the Dong Nai Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.
In many areas in Binh Duong, the number of workers who rent houses has decreased as lots of them returned home when unemployed. Huynh Van Hot, who runs many rented rooms for workers in Tan Uyen Town, said that nearly half of his family’s rooms are now empty as workers have returned to their hometowns.
Do Thi Trang and her husband decided to leave HCM City to return to their home in Ca Mau. They previously earned VND16 million a month working for a footwear company in District 7. With that money, they could save at least VND3 million a month to send home. However, over the past three months, their income had considerably dropped due to the declining number of orders.
