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Vietnam Decentralization of Trade
During the 1980s, there were variations in the level of
decentralization of foreign trade that the government was willing
to permit. A policy of giving local governments and export
companies greater autonomy in making contractual and credit
arrangements with foreign businesses and government organizations
was attempted in 1981 without much success but was endorsed by
the Sixth National Party Congress in December 1986.
Decentralization was blocked initially by Hanoi's desire to bring
the economically livelier southern region of the country, with
its latent market-economy orientation, under fuller economic and
political control. Such control--exemplified by the 1983
crackdown on the ethnic Chinese commercial community in Ho Chi
Minh City--sometimes took precedence over trade promotion. In
early 1987, however, city officials reportedly were again
encouraging local companies to engage freely in foreign trade,
joint ventures, acquisition of technology, and foreign currency
borrowing. Provinces, as early as 1986, were permitted to set
their own trade regulations and develop export strategies in
order to draw sufficient revenue to pay for imports needed to
fulfill provincial plan targets.
Some twenty-seven state trading corporations and twenty-two
local trading companies conducted business directly or indirectly
with companies abroad during the 1980s, either producing export
goods or purchasing them from suppliers. Imexco, the central
umbrella organization, handled general administrative matters,
leaving detailed operations to specialized corporations such as
Agrexport and Vegetexco (foodstuffs and animal products);
Maranimex (marine products); Naforimex (forest products); and
Machineimport and Technoimport (machinery, plants, and
equipment). Two specialized corporations, the Vietnam Foreign
Trade Corporation and the Vietnam Ocean Shipping Agency,
administered all sea transport and cargo handling, respectively.
The Soviet-Vietnamese joint venture Vietsovpetro conducted
offshore petroleum exploration.
In their day-to-day operations, the specialized trading
corporations independently arranged contracts with producers,
coordinated in-country transportation, and even designed
packaging (for example, of fresh fruit or marine products) to
improve freshness and quality control. The Number One Frozen
Seafood Export Company, a highly profitable corporation,
regularly sent its officials abroad to negotiate trade contracts
for its popular frozen prawns and other seafood. In 1986 the
company reportedly earned a profit of around US$17 million,
chiefly in trade with Japan and Hong Kong (see
table 10, Appendix
A).
Data as of December 1987
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