FDI enterprises mainly use external supply chains
In general, in the first 7 months of 2026, the trade balance of goods traded with a trade deficit of 20.52 billion USD (compared to a trade surplus of 10.35 billion USD in the same period last year). According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong - Director of the Statistics Department (Ministry of Finance), in general, in the first 7 months of 2026, the import turnover of goods reached 340.05 billion USD, an increase of 34.8% compared to the same period last year, of which the domestic economic sector reached 92.14 billion USD, an increase of 24.1%; the foreign-invested sector reached 247.91 billion USD, an increase of 39.2%.
The Statistics Office said that in terms of the structure of imported goods in the first 7 months of 2026, the group of production materials reached 319.95 billion USD, accounting for 94.1%, of which machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts accounted for 56.9%; raw materials, fuel, and materials accounted for 37.2%. Consumer goods group reached 20.1 billion USD, accounting for 5.9%.
Talking to Lao Dong, Dr. Huynh Thanh Dien - economic expert, lecturer at Nguyen Tat Thanh University - assessed that currently FDI enterprises enter Vietnam mainly to produce export goods, but use external supply chains. Therefore, the more they produce, the more they import; the more they export, the more they import; the more they invest, the more they continue to import.
The main reason is that the previous FDI attraction process lacked direction. For many years, localities mainly focused on developing industrial parks and attracting their own industrial parks without paying attention to selecting investors. There is also no specific policy to support domestic small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in the supply chain of FDI enterprises. We have talked about linkages but there is almost no substantive action program. As a result, FDI enterprises mainly take advantage of production locations, labor and preferential policies for production, while domestic enterprises almost cannot participate in their supply chains" - Dr. Huynh Thanh Dien analyzed.
Dr. Huynh Thanh Dien said that this is a very large room for improvement. For businesses, the most important thing is still having output for products. If domestic businesses can produce products that FDI businesses need, there will immediately be a consumption market right in Vietnam. What is currently lacking is mechanisms and policies.
Proposal for incentives for FDI enterprises when using domestic suppliers
This expert believes that there should be preferential policies for FDI enterprises when using domestic suppliers, and at the same time, there should be policies to support domestic enterprises to invest in production to participate in the supply chain.
In addition, there need to be credit support programs, reducing loan interest costs so that domestic businesses can boldly invest.
“Previously, when I exchanged with many businesses about developing supporting industries, they all said that there are incentives, but they still do not dare to invest because they do not know who to sell after production. If they invest and partners do not buy, the risk is very high. Too high loan interest costs also make many businesses not dare to invest because profits may be eroded by financial costs. If the State supports reducing loan interest costs, many businesses will be bolder to invest. When businesses develop production, the State will recover that support through taxes arising from production and business activities,” said Dr. Huynh Thanh Dien.
Dr. Huynh Thanh Dien assessed that the most important thing is still to change the viewpoint of attracting FDI in a selective direction, with planning and a close connection mechanism with domestic enterprises to form a sustainable production platform.
Resolution No. 10-NQ/TW dated June 8, 2026 of the Politburo on economic development with foreign investment capital has clearly defined this orientation. The important thing is to institutionalize it into action programs, specific legal regulations and policies so that businesses can implement it" - Dr. Huynh Thanh Dien said.
