Vietnam's supply chain reform agenda | Bangkok Post: business

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Vietnam is one of the world's fastest-growing sourcing and manufacturing locations _ with an average export growth rate that was the highest in the region during the last decade. With its increasing international focus, the booming economy of Vietnam has become a focal point for offshore production by global manufacturers looking for even lower-cost locations than previously offered in China.

However, as the labour and transport costs of its neighbours have risen quickly over the past few years, weaknesses in Vietnam's supply chain and logistics infrastructure are still leading to high costs of production and transport, which in turn is hindering international competitiveness.

Infrastructure (airports, seaports, roads, bridges, etc) are all important to a country in terms of attracting investment and business and to a company when it is time to decide where to locate an investment, build a factory or establish a regional office. In terms of competitiveness, Vietnam does not have much more time to improve logistics services to prepare for the stiff competition that will occur once it starts to meet WTO commitments to open its borders and logistics market to foreign companies.