HCMC – The total retail sales of consumer goods and services in September inched up 6.5% compared with the previous month as manufacturing and trading activities resumed in some localities after the Covid situation improved.
However, retail sales of consumer goods and services last month still dropped 28.4% year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The country’s total retail sales of consumer goods and services from January to September 2021 reached some VND3.37 quadrillion (US$148 billion), falling 7.1% compared with the same period last year.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade blamed the decrease on the fourth wave of Covid, which seriously affected production and trade. The pandemic devastated several southern localities and provinces which are also the country’s industrial hubs, such as HCMC, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An.
The retail sales of goods in the period reached some VND2.78 quadrillion, accounting for 82.54% of the total retail sales of goods and services and falling 3.38% year-on-year.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade forecast that if the Covid-19 pandemic could be brought under control in the third quarter of this year, consumer demand would rise significantly in the year-end peak season.
In the coming months, the ministry will roll out a number of measures to facilitate the recovery of production and trade, including helping businesses ride out difficulties when they resume operations, taking advantage of free trade agreements to penetrate new markets and boosting e-commerce.
The ministry expected that with these measures and the recovery of trade and production, the country’s total retail sales of consumer goods and services in 2021 would rise 3-4% from 2020.
