Noodles are packaged at Safoco Foodstuff Joint Stock Company in HCM City. Companies throughout the country are scrabbling to get back to work after the Tet holiday. — VNA/VNS Photo Dinh Hue

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Companies in many industries have hit the ground running after the long Lunar New Year holidays to ensure that export orders are executed on schedule.

The top management of the Garment 10 Joint Stock Company, for instance, encouraged their workers to return in time after Tet and ensure production of suits and shirts gets back into full swing to export to Japan, the US and Europe.

General director Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen said though 2014 had been a difficult year the company had still managed impressive growth and forecast more of the same this year.

Last year the company had achieved sales of VND2.188 trillion (US$103 million), 17.6 per cent up from the previous year, she said.

To achieve that, the company had invested VND148.8 billion ($7.08 million) in modern technologies and equipment to achieve top quality, she said.

Deputy general director Than Duc Viet said the company has enough orders to remain busy the whole year.

"The company expects to grow by 10-15 per cent this year, 50 per cent of which will be contributed by exports."

This year, besides nurturing traditional markets like the US, EU and Japan, the company plans to diversify its markets to reduce risk, he added.

South Korea is one of the company's new markets. In 2014 its exports to the country doubled thanks to the Viet Nam-South Korea Free Trade Agreement.

Le Tien Truong, deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Textile and Garment Association, also forecast strong growth in 2015.

"In January the industry's exports were estimated at $1.9 billion, up 1.2 per cent over the same period last year. Many products were exported to new markets like Turkey, Africa and the Middle East."

The leather and footwear industry also made an impressive start to the year, with exports exceeding $1 billion in January, a year-on-year increase of 23 per cent.

Hopeful of taking advantage of the free trade agreements with the EU and South Korea and, especially, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, the footwear industry expects to achieve exports of $13.5-14 billion this year.

Other industries

Fisheries processing companies also began export shipments immediately after Tet as 90 per cent of their workers reported back for duty.

Among them was Minh Phu Seafood Company based in the southern province of Hau Giang.

Cuttlefish, octopus, crab, surimi, and sea fishes are the company's biggest export items, particularly to Russia, and helped the company achieve high export growth, according to its director, Le Van Hung.

Phan Van Binh, general director of the Nhat Nam Wood Processing Company, said most companies in the wood processing industry have export deals that would take until the second quarter to execute.

"The company is now focused on completing US export orders by early March," he said, referring to Nhat Nam.

Viet Thanh Company, which specialises in export packaging, resumed work as early as on February 23 since it had many orders on hand. — VNS